> Kahn, Rosenthal, Jin, Huang, Namakydoust, and Zimet (2008) presented a study of the rates of Human Papillomavirus, rates of the vaccination, and related attitudes about this vaccination. These authors found that in a group of 409 females ages 13 to 26 years, only 5% had received the vaccine does, 66% thought they would get the vaccine, 65% were confident they could find the time to get the vaccine, and 54% thought they would get all three shots. The young Latino population is one of the minority groups at risk for HPV and female Latinos who are mothers would benefit from this immunization to guard against getting the disease.
Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been applied to determine attitudes toward many different vaccines. For example, Gagnon and Godin (2000) presented the idea of a vaccine for HIV and gathered information about whether young adults would get this vaccine if it were available. Since effort is being made worldwide to develop this vaccine, it is important to understand how people would react to getting this immunization. These authors stated that the problem is that social norms may not support the getting of this vaccine even if it is developed.
This theory has also been applied to understand if populations are likely to get other vaccines such as the hepatitis B virus vaccine (de Wit, Vet, Schutten, & van Steenbergen, 2005). In addition to understanding the attitudes of the patient, doctor immunization knowledge, attitudes, and practices must be understood to ensure adequate use of immunizations (Prislin, Nader, De Guire, Hoy, Pung, Ross, Goertiltz, & Sawyer, 1999). Ajzen presented the Theory of Planned Behavior, which has been well supported by empirical evidence. The theory accounts for variance in behavior as it relates to attitudes of the subject. Behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior determine actual behavior (Ajzen, 1991; University of T...