Evaluation of medical faculty students' knowledge and attitudes about
HPV infection and HPV vaccine
Abstract
Background: Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the most common
sexually transmitted viral disease. It was aimed to evaluate the
knowledge levels and attitudes of medical faculty students about HPV
infection and vaccine. Methods: Our descriptive cross-sectional study;
was made with the medical faculty students studying at the Harran
University Faculty of Medicine in the 2019-2020 academic year. A total
of 645 students were reached, excluding those who refused to participate
in the study and those who were not at the faculty or hospital for any
reason. Data were collected using a questionnaire method. NCSS 2007
program was used for statistical analysis. Results: 645 students were
included in this study ( 52.9% (n = 341) is male, 47.1% (n = 304) is
female, and average age of them is 21.46 ± 2.39 years). 75.3% of the
students stated that they have information about HPV infection. The HPV
infection knowledge level scores of the married were higher than the
singles (p = 0.005; p <0.01). 51.2% of the students stated
that they had knowledge about the HPV vaccine. HPV vaccine knowledge
level scores of women were compared to men (p = 0.019; p
<0.05); and the scores of married people were also higher than
singles (p = 0.016; p <0.05). Only 1.9% of the students had
the HPV vaccine. Conclusion: In our study, it was seen that the medical
faculty students’ knowledge about HPV infection and vaccine was not
sufficient, and the methods that should be used to provide more
effective education should be determined. We believe that it will be
beneficial to add the HPV vaccine to the national vaccine program in our
country.