Knowledge of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Attitudes and Practices Towards Anti-HPV Vaccination Among Israeli Pediatricians, Gynecologists, and Internal Medicine Doctors: Development and Validation of an Ad Hoc Questionnaire

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a highly widespread virus which is responsible for one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. Two main preventative strategies exist: anti-HPV vaccination and cervical screening. Health-care workers play a key role in promoting public health campaigns; however, vaccine hesitancy is an often under-recognized challenge. To investigate the overall knowledge of HPV and HPV-related issues, as well as the attitudes and practices of health professionals towards recommending the anti-HPV vaccine, an ad hoc knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) questionnaire was developed and validated in a sample of 139 Israeli pediatricians, gynecologists, and internal medicine doctors. The KAP questionnaire was found to be psychometrically valid and sound (with an rKR-20 coefficient of 0.74 for the second part and a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.85 for the third part). Furthermore, the present study confirmed the importance of health-care providers in recommending the immunization practice. Parents that had been strongly advised by health-care providers to vaccinate their children accepted immunization for their girls (odds ratio (OR) 1.09 (95% CI 1.04–1.14)) and boys (OR 1.06 (95% CI 1.02–1.10)), had a lower probability of deciding to postpone the immunization appointment (OR 0.81 (95% CI 0.66–0.98)), had fewer doubts and concerns about the vaccine (OR 0.69 (95% CI 0.54–0.89)), and had a lower probability of refusing the vaccination (OR 0.93 (95% CI 0.86–0.99)). Interestingly, the use of new, emerging tools such as ad hoc websites, applications, and other interactive devices reduced vaccine hesitancy (OR 0.90 (95% CI 0.82–0.99)) and concerns about the side-effects of the vaccine (OR 0.92 (95% CI 0.86–0.99)). However, among Israeli health-care workers, knowledge was generally moderate, with updated information lacking in about 30% of surveyed health-care providers and approximately 20% of them not recommending the anti-HPV vaccine among boys. This study has practical implications for policy- and decision-makers in that they should be aware of the overall level of knowledge among health-care workers and should implement ad hoc educational interventions to address gaps in knowledge and help medical providers routinely recommend the anti-HPV vaccine both to male and female children and adolescents.

Italian Health Care Workers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Human Papillomavirus Infection and Prevention

“…Healthcare providers play a key role in counseling parents to immunize their children, since they are recognized as authoritative and highly trusted sources of information [20]. Indeed, provider recommendation is the strongest predictor of HPV vaccine compliance by the main targets (e.g., adolescents and at-risk subjects, such as homo-and bisexuals) [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31].…”

Assessment of the State of Knowledge about HPV Infection and HPV Vaccination among Polish Resident Doctors

“…It has also been previously studied that parents who had been strongly advised by healthcare providers to vaccinate their children had higher acceptance rates to immunization for their girls and boys and were more hesitant to postpone the immunization appointment and had fewer concerns about vaccines and were less likely to refuse vaccination [ 7 ].…”

Awareness of Family Physicians about HPV and Prevention Methods

“…, 80% by Khamisy-Farah et al(29) and 50-85% by Naki et al(26). In our study it was observed that 67.4% of resident physicians advised vaccination to their patients.…”