Impact of low Health Literacy on Racial Minority Women

The incidence of cervical cancer in the United States has declined for the past forty years, yet the odds of developing cervical cancer is much higher among marginalized (African American and Hispanic) women. Cervical cancer is preventable through vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV), prior to infection and although the HPV vaccine is available and recommended for females between the ages of 9 and 26 years, the uptake and completion rates of the vaccine among the African American and Hispanic women are low. This dissertation will examine whether there is a significant relationship between health literacy levels of marginalized women (aged 18 and 26 years) and the low HPV vaccination uptake. The Integrated Behavioral Model which identifies factors antecedent to behavioral intention as well as variables that motivate or hinder a person to act on behavioral intention will be the theoretical framework for this dissertation. This dissertation will use data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine the relationships among the variables of interest. Result from this study will provide public health practitioners enough information to guide health promotion activities to increase the vaccination coverage to the Healthy People 2020 expected level, save economic resources, and improve many lives.