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Introduction
Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a common sexually transmitted disease in Hong Kong (Chan et al. , 2009; Tay et al. , 2008), China (Lo et al. , 2002), USA (Dunn et al. , 2007) and Europe (De Vuyst et al. , 2009) causing genital warts and, in women, cervical cancer (Mays et al. , 2000). Cervical cancer was ranked as a medium-risk disease in Hong Kong (Ferlay et al. , 2013). It caught the attention of the people of Hong Kong since the deaths of Anita Mui and Ann Mui, popular singers of Hong Kong, who both died of cervical cancer at the age of 40 (Wang et al. , 2014). Although vaccination can prevent cervical cancer effectively, there are some barriers to vaccine acceptance in many Asian societies in particular, such as low perceived risk of cervical cancer infection, no immediate perceived need of vaccination, stigma associated with sexually transmitted disease, as well as anticipated family or parental disapproval (Siu, 2013).
From the perspective of preventive vaccination, it is clear that vaccination for girls and young women is critical for reducing the incidence of life-threatening cervical cancer, but men are at risk of HPV infection too (Bosch et al. , 2002). In Hong Kong, the government decided to arrange a publicity campaign on cervical cancer prevention (CCP) to promote public awareness of the disease with enormous media coverage of CCP, which used different celebrities (So and Chan, 1992) to endorse the campaign (Chan et al. , 2014). In recent years, male celebrities also joined the campaign to endorse public awareness of CCP. Nonetheless, the number of young people who take the initiative to have themselves vaccinated in Hong Kong is still far from ideal (Lee et al. , 2007). Kruglanski et al. (2006) have pointed out that most people who watch such advertisements have never even contemplated the idea of prevention. They are relatively healthy and young, and therefore, tailored communication methods are essential for understanding and promoting awareness of the disease.
This study attempts to use an information-motivation-behavioural skills (IMB) model (Fisher and Fisher, 2000) as a conceptual framework for understanding the relationships between information, motivation and changes in health-related behaviour of young people in Hong Kong. Moreover, drawing from...