Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Malaysian Medical and Pharmacy Students Towards Human Papillomavirus Vaccination

Abstract

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections and oncogenic HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer. However, HPV vaccination is already available as the primary preventive method against cervical cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of HPV vaccination among Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) students. This study was conducted from March until August 2009. Pre-tested and validated questionnaires were filled by the third year UKM (n=156) and UM (n=149) students from medical, dentistry and pharmacy faculties. The results showed that the overall level of knowledge on HPV infection, cervical cancer and its prevention among respondents was high and the majority of them had positive attitude towards HPV vaccination. Medical students had the highest level of knowledge (p<0.05). Very few students (3.6%) had already taken the vaccine with no significant difference between the two Universities (p=0.399). In conclusion, the knowledge and attitude of the respondents were high and positive, respectively. Only few students took HPV vaccination. Thus, more awareness campaigns and HPV vaccination services should be provided at universities' campuses with the price of the HPV vaccine reduced for the students.

Knowledge and Attitude of Iranian University Students toward Human Papilloma Virus

“…Most of the respondents did not know that HPV is a common infection; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) report that at least 50% of sexually active individuals will acquire an HPV infection at some point in their life (Li et al, 2009;Merzouk et al, 2011) but it does not mean all these attacked women will develop cervical cancer; This lack of understanding about HPV may cause unnecessary stress and alarm if participants are diagnosed with HPV in the future which indicates especial effort to improve this kind of detailed and important knowledge (Pruitt et al, 2005;Rashwan et al, 2012). On the other hand more than half of the participants (64%) were aware about its link with cervical cancer and said that Pap smear can help HPV diagnosis but we expected higher percentage of right answer in a society of medical students.…”

“…Relevance between HPV and cervical cancer is the most important information that the public should be aware about which may not be completely understood even by the medical community (Howard et al, 2007;Villar et al, 2011;Rashwan et al, 2012); this is a good explain why knowledge and understanding of HPV are low among the general public and they are more likely to be confused about HPV (M, 2001). Vaccine introduction, approval and ensuing advertising campaigns may cover theses gaps in knowledge and shift physician behavior (Zarcadoolas et al, 2012) whereas there is not national programs of HPV education and vaccination for public in Iranian society and any studies.…”

Parental Knowledge and Attitudes about Human Papilloma Virus in Iran

“…A European study reported that only 17.7% of university students had heard about HPV (Lenselink et al, 2008). Slightly higher rates of awareness of HPV, approximately one-third, were reported from university students in the United States and Malaysia (Dell et al, 2000;Philips et al, 2003;Rashwan et al, 2012).…”

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).…”