Entre Familia: Educating Hispanic Adolescents and their Families on Cervical Cancer and HPV Vaccination
HPV, the “human papillomavirus,” is the most common sexually transmitted infection.
While most people with HPV have no symptoms, in some cases it can cause genital warts or cervical, penis, mouth/throat and anus cancer. But there’s good news: The HPV vaccine protects against the types of HPV that cause most serious issues, like genital warts and cervical cancer.
Read our flyer about HPV and the HPV vaccine in English or Spanish.
The new Entre Familia program uses promotoras—trained community health workers—to deliver health education about the HPV vaccine and cancer prevention, and help people schedule and remember vaccination appointments for girls and boys ages 11-17 in South Texas.
Entre Familia, led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio, adapted culturally competent health education sessions from the successful Entre Madre e Hija program, which used peer educators to provide outreach and education about HPV and support mothers and daughters who decide to receive the HPV vaccine in South Texas. Now the program is expanding to boys.
Entre Familia employs two promotoras:
A “community promotora” attends health fairs and community events and recruit families in the region and provide them with group health education sessions using a flipchart.
A “clinic promotora” posts flyers, calls clinic patient lists, and uses provider referrals to recruit families, then conducts brief health education sessions using a print brochure.
Both promotoras offer support for initiating and completing the HPV vaccine series.