Digital Interventions to Increase HPV Vaccination Intentions Among Nigerian Caregivers

This study evaluates whether different types of digital health communication can increase parents' intention to vaccinate their daughters against human papillomavirus (HPV) in Nigeria. HPV vaccination is recommended for girls aged 9-14 years and helps prevent cervical cancer, yet vaccination rates remain low.

Parents of eligible, unvaccinated girls will be randomly assigned to receive one of several types of digital content delivered online. These include: (1) a short chatbot conversation based on motivational interviewing principles, (2) an interactive game designed to help parents recognize and resist common forms of vaccine misinformation, (3) a set of short edutainment videos about HPV vaccination, (4) standard informational infographics about HPV vaccination from a national public health agency, or (5) unrelated health content about menstruation.

The main outcome is parents' self-reported intention to vaccinate their daughter against HPV, measured immediately and one week after exposure to the assigned content. Additional outcomes include HPV-related knowledge, perceptions of vaccine safety, willingness to recommend the vaccine to others, and self-reported vaccine uptake at 1-week and 6 month follow-up. The results will help inform scalable communication strategies to improve HPV vaccination uptake in low- and middle-income settings.