LAUSR

This exploratory community-based study assessed Brazilian immigrant parents’ awareness of HPV and the HPV vaccine, HPV information sources, and their interest in participating in a future HPV-related cancer prevention study. This study is a cross-sectional analysis of data from a convenience sample of Brazilian immigrant parents living in selected cities in Massachusetts. Participants completed a brief survey in their language of preference (English or Portuguese) administered by bilingual interviewers. Forty-seven Brazilian immigrant parents, each representing a unique family, participated in the study. All participants completed the survey in Portuguese. Although the majority reported being aware of HPV (93.6%, n  = 44), only 74.5% ( n  = 35) were aware of the HPV vaccine. Fewer fathers than mothers had heard of the HPV vaccine (61.9%; n  = 13 vs. 84.6%, n  = 22; p  = 0.04). Of those who were aware of the HPV vaccine ( n  = 35), 82.6% ( n  = 29) reported hearing about the HPV vaccine from their child’s physician. Additionally, nearly all participants (97.9%, n  = 46) reported being interested in participating in future HPV-related cancer prevention study. Findings of this exploratory study indicate parents’ low to moderate awareness of the HPV vaccine and high interest in participating in future HPV-related cancer prevention study. These findings are important and serve as a valuable first step toward building a knowledge foundation that is critically needed for developing future studies targeting Brazilians immigrant parents and adolescents living in the USA.