52 - Training Iowa’s Oral Health Workforce to Educate, Recommend, and Refer the HPV Vaccine

Description: Oropharyngeal cancer is now the most prevalent cancer associated with human papillomavirus (HPV). The FDA has recently approved the HPV vaccine for the prevention of oropharyngeal cancer. However, vaccination rates in Iowa remain low. Now, more than ever, it is important to educate patients, parents, and guardians about the prevention of oropharyngeal cancer. The purpose of this project was to develop evidence-based and provider-informed training for Iowa’s oral health workforce to Educate, Recommend, and Refer the HPV vaccine to patients. The presenter worked in collaboration with experts to develop and provide a three-part training series to Iowa’s oral health workforce. The training series described the epidemiology of HPV infections and HPV-associated cancers, identified appropriate recommendations for HPV vaccination, and provided evidence-based communication techniques to effectively refer the HPV vaccine. The presenter will share challenges and opportunities, summarize the training material, describe partnerships, and share evaluation data and feedback of the trainings. She will also present about future project activities to evaluate the training series as part of an intervention program.

Source of Funding:: This training project was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a Cooperative Agreement Numbers (U48 DP00689). The project is in collaboration with the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics and the University of Iowa College of Public Health with support from the University of Iowa Cancer Prevention & Control Research Network.