Survey of girls’ recall of a film providing information on human papillomavirus and cervical cancer 6 months after an offer of vaccination

Pre-adolescent girls who have been successfully immunised against human papillomavirus (HPV) may have relatively little knowledge about cervical cancer. A questionnaire was sent to 1084 girls approximately 6 months after they had been offered vaccination to assess whether an educational film had influenced their vaccine decision and what information they recalled. Girls who viewed the film were more likely to have wanted the vaccine than non-viewers (p = 0.015), but only 42% of them could recall details of the film 6 months later. Fear of cervical cancer may motivate young adolescents for vaccination but false assumptions might undermine later preventive actions by both the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.