Users’ Responses to Public Discourse of HPV Vaccination on YouTube

This study examines the relationship between characteristics of YouTube videos and audiences’ responses through a content analysis of 186 HPV vaccination-related videos and 4,087 viewers’ comments. In particular, this study used the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior as a reference to identify six content constructs in videos, including the benefits and barriers of HPV vaccination, susceptibility to HPV, severity of HPV, subjective norms and behavioral control of HPV vaccination. We found that a substantial number of videos portrayed HPV vaccines in a negative tone. Videos from anti-vaccination advocacy groups such as Regret and Vaxxed TV were more popular than videos from other sources. Almost half of the videos framed HPV vaccines as female-specific vaccines. Moreover, videos highlighting subjective norms of getting HPV vaccination received more positive comments and in contrast, videos posted by governmental agencies and videos displaying barriers acquired more negative responses.