About: HPV, A Huge Problem, Visualized

Tackling the incidence of preventable HPV-caused oropharyngeal cancer

Promoting the HPV vaccine and preventive measures among 18- to 26-year-old MSM in Harlem, New York City

HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is the main factor (70%) causing oropharyngeal cancer. It is sexually transmitted. 10% of men and 3.6% of women are orally infected. Cancer develops years after infection.

Every year, 20,839 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer. Around 14,800 are probably caused by HPV (four-fold increase over the past decade).

Primary audience: 18-26 year-old MSM living in Harlem who are unvaccinated against HPV

Adult MSM are at elevated risk of HPV (and HIV). HPV is more than 50% prevalent in all MSM in the US.

- Men in the 18-26 age group are eligible, but undervaccinated compared to their female and adolescent counterparts.

- Harlem has a higher percentage of 18-26 year olds than the rest of Manhattan

- HPV prevalence and vaccination status in Harlem MSM are understudied

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Let's Talk About Sex

We have now gotten to the action (tactical) plan phase of this project. The action plan is when you get to take all your research, planning and objective and come up with an actionable, feasible and strategic plan for all of the communication messages, materials, activities, channels and so on that you would like to use on the key audiences for your communications program. For our communications program HPVAX we are looking to build awareness and increase the number of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Harlem to get the HPV vaccines and have protected sex to diminish the spread of HPV and oral cancers. One of the key secondary groups we want to target with our program are sexual partners. Sexual partners are such an important group to target for this program as they have such an influence on the primary group- 18–26-year-old MSM in Harlem. Research shows that MSM perceptions of condom use are primarily shaped by social norms and their interactions with sexual partners. If sexual partn...

Let’s Talk About Sex: Part 2

When our group had initially discussed our idea for the communications campaign, we wanted to target heterosexual men 18-26 in Harlem to get the HPV vaccine. After doing some research, we saw that there was a high need for specifically the men who have sex with men (MSM) group and so we narrowed our population down. Reflecting back, I am interested how our campaign would’ve differed had our target group been more broadly men 18-26 in Harlem. What would’ve been the key differences in our objectives, strategies and tactics? The research shows that the MSM population is more likely than heterosexual males to not use protection during sex and in turn have a higher STI rate. Interestingly, they are more likely to be trust healthcare professionals and be open to getting the HPV vaccine. Thus, for our campaign we focused heavily on behavioral changes around utilizing safe sex practices and on increasing knowledge and awareness around the risks of HPV and the vaccine. Given the ...

About the What and the How: Communication Concepts

Communication is one of the essential components of our human existence: we use it every day. Verbal or nonverbal, in written or spoken words, in our gestures, our actions, in the way we express ourselves or don’t. It seems like we’re communication naturals. But are we really? Our journey through the health communication world has made me think about how messages work and how we relate to them. Have you also noticed that sometimes, different strategies are needed to convince differen t people of the same thing? That, while you might be more likely to consider adopting a healthy habit if you’re reading about its benefits, others will be more easily convinced to change their behavior if they're made aware of the risk of not doing so? People are different in the way they react to how messages are presented. One of my main takeaways of this course is related to this phenomenon. The seemingly intuitive act of using different appeals to communicate one particular issue actually has a na...

HPVAX

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