Knowledge and Attitude of Iranian University Students toward Human Papilloma Virus

Abstract

Introduction: Increasing prevalence of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and its association with cervical cancer as a leading cause of death make it necessary to evaluate and improve the public knowledge, especially of university students, about this cause of disease. Methods: A cross-sectional study of knowledge and attitude of a total 669 students from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences was therefore performed with a modified validated questionnaire, arranged into 5 parts and containing 55 questions, in July 2011. Questions were directed to study socio-demographic characteristics of the participant, knowledge about HPV disease, transmission route, relationship with cervical cancer, predisposing factors, and participants attitude toward people with HPV infection. Results: All of the participants were Moslem with a mean age 25.6±5.33 years of age. All of the participants had heard of HPV, and acquired their knowledge through university courses (90.6%); the majority of them knew that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease and a potential cause for genital warts but general knowledge about details was not high. Mean knowledge score of residents and post graduate midwifery and nursing students was high as compared to other groups (P<0.001). Statements that indicated the presence of fear to communicate with people suffering HPV and people's avoidance to rely on babysitting of these patients were observed. Educational level (β=0.21, P<0.001), age (β=0.18, P=0.002,) and smoking (β=-0.11, P=0.006) were predicted to effect knowledge. Conclusions: Moderate level of knowledge about HPV among medical university students makes it necessary to set effective national public health efforts on HPV education and prevention considering he excess of young population in Iran vulnerable to cervical cancer.

Attitudes and Practice of Cervical Cancer Screening among Female University Students from 25 Low, Middle Income and Emerging Economy Countries

“…University students are not representative of young adults in general, and the cervical cancer screening attitude and practice may be different in other sectors of the population. Future studies of this nature should include knowledge, attitude and practice of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, vaccination (Ghojazadeh et al, 2012;Rashwan et al, 2012;Hoque and Ghuman, 2013).…”

Understanding and Responsiveness Level about Cervical Cancer and its Avoidance among Young Women of Pakistan

“…The development of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) testing and vaccination are expected to contribute greatly in curbing the potential disease process (Munoz et al, 2004;Villa et al, 2006). Human Papilloma virus (HPV) infection appears to be a necessary factor in the development of almost all cases (90+%) of cervical cancer (Kumar et al, 2007;Ghojazadeh et al, 2012). HPV vaccines that are effective against the two strains of this large family of viruses that currently cause approximately 70% cases of cervical cancer have been licensed in the U.S, Canada, Australia, and the EU (Lowy and Schiller, 2006).…”

Conhecimento Dos Acadêmicos De Medicina Acerca Do HPV E Do Câncer De Colo Uterino

“…No que diz respeito ao desempenho geral dos acadêmicos da PUC-Goiás, a porcentagem geral de acerto foi de 80,0%, superior a todos os outros estudos 19,22,27,28,29 , metodologicamente comparáveis, identificados na literatura especializada. Avaliando o desempenho de acordo com o grupo de conhecimentos, verifica-se um comprometimento maior das questões relacionadas aos sinais e sintomas e diagnóstico do câncer de colo uterino.…”

“…Estudos semelhantes apresentam resultados heterogêneos. Enquanto um estudo32 obteve um nível de conhecimento significativo com 305 acadêmicos na Universidade Kebangsaan da Malásia e Universidade Malaya, nos demais estudos não conseguiram uma conclusão tão esperançosa 19,22,27,28,29 . Na Universidade de Chongqing (China) a média de acerto dentre os 878 estudantes de Medicina participantes foi 45,4%, apesar do conhecimento melhorar com o tempo de estudo na Universidade 19 .…”