Online health information seeking, health literacy, and human papillomavirus vaccination among transgender and gender-diverse people

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to describe online health information seeking among a sample of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people compared with cisgender sexual minority people to explore associations with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, and whether general health literacy and eHealth literacy moderate this relationship. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional online survey of TGD and cisgender sexual minority participants from The PRIDE Study, a longitudinal, U.S.-based, national health study of sexual and gender minority people. We employed multivariable logistic regression to model the association of online health information seeking and HPV vaccination. RESULTS: The online survey yielded 3258 responses. Compared with cisgender sexual minority participants, TGD had increased odds of reporting HPV vaccination (aOR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2) but decreased odds when they had looked for information about vaccines online (aOR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5-0.9). TGD participants had over twice the odds of reporting HPV vaccination if they visited a social networking site like Facebook (aOR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.1-5.6). No moderating effects from general or eHealth literacy were observed. DISCUSSION: Decreased reporting of HPV vaccination among TGD people after searching for vaccine information online suggests vaccine hesitancy, which may potentially be related to the quality of online content. Increased reporting of vaccination after using social media may be related to peer validation. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies should investigate potential deterrents to HPV vaccination in online health information to enhance its effectiveness and further explore which aspects of social media might increase vaccine uptake among TGD people.