Projects

Talking to Young People about HPV

Researchers: Eva Malone, Carol Gray-Brunton, Richard Firth, Steven Andrew

16 workshops were carried out with S1 students (first year of high school) and their teachers at Wester Hailes High School, St. Augustine’s High School and Forresters High School. The sessions were delivered with the support of three vaccination nurses from NHS Lothian and Céline Healy, Iain Macdonald from Maynooth University

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a common virus that can cause genital warts or cancer but there is a vaccine that can protect against HPV. In Scotland the HPV vaccine is offered to young people in school. The vaccine coverage for HPV has been falling in recent years and was 71.5% in 2023/24.

We are a group of researchers with expertise in science, psychology, education, art and design and have worked with young people to deliver workshops focussed on HPV and HPV vaccination. We were asked to help the NHS Lothian vaccination team and deliver HPV workshops in three schools in Edinburgh. We worked in partnership with the vaccination team and designed and developed a workshop for S1 pupils. Together we delivered sixteen workshops and reached over 350 children. Teachers fed back to us that our workshop was well-pitched, with a good level of detail, great explanations and that the pace was appropriate for S1 pupils.

The range of expertise in the team meant we were able to find the right balance of words and pictures to enable participation from less confident participants and mitigate language barriers. The workshop was very well received by participants, we were told we “Did great”, the workshop was “perfect” and that they liked the games we designed. Participant knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccination and their intention to receive the HPV vaccine all increased (self-reported) after the workshop. The HPV vaccine can protect our young people and save lives, but it only works if young people get vaccinated.

The project team included academics from Edinburgh Napier University and Maynooth University, Ireland, and after the success of this project we are planning to continue to reach and empower young people to engage in conversations about their health, in partnership with NHS Lothian.

The project is included as part of the IPVC 2024 Conference Legacy sub-committee activity. The Conference has been shortlisted for the following awards: