The HPV vaccine: knowledge and attitudes among public health nurses and general practitioners in Northern Norway after introduction of the vaccine in the school-based vaccination programme

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate knowledge of and attitudes to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, HPV vaccination, cervical cancer, related sources of information and factors associated with willingness to vaccinate one’s own daughter among primary health care (PHC) personnel.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingPHC.SubjectsAll public health nurses (PHNs) and general practitioners (GPs) in Northern Norway were invited to answer a structured electronic questionnaire; 31% participated (N = 220).Main outcome measuresSelf-reported and actual knowledge, information sources, attitudes and willingness to vaccinate their (tentative) daughter.Results47% of respondents knew that HPV infection is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. PHNs had higher self-reported and actual knowledge about HPV vaccination and cervical cancer than GPs. PHNs used the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s numerous information sources on HPV, while GPs had a low user rate. 88% of PHNs and 50% of GPs acquired information from the pharmaceutical industry. 93% PHNs and 68% of GPs would vaccinate their 12-year-old daughter. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, willingness to vaccinate one’s daughter was positively associated with younger age, being PHN (OR = 5.26, 95%CI 1.74–15.94), little concern about vaccine side effects (OR = 3.61, 95%CI 1.10–11.81) and disagreement among experts (OR = 7.31, 95%CI 2.73–19.60).ConclusionsIncreased knowledge about HPV infection and vaccination is needed, particularly among GPs. Those least concerned about side effects and disagreements among experts were most likely to vaccinate their daughter. These findings are of interest for public health authorities responsible for the Norwegian vaccination and cervix cancer screening programmes, and providers of training of PHC personnel.Key pointsOne year after introduction of HPV vaccination among 12-year-old schoolgirls in Norway, a cross-sectional study in Northern Norway among general practitioners (GPs) and public health nurses (PHNs) showed that• barely half of PHC professionals knew the causal relationship between HPV infection and cervical cancer• PHNs and GPs had higher self-reported than actual knowledge about HPV vaccination and cervical cancernearly all PHNs and two thirds of GPs wanted to vaccinate their 12-year-old daughter. Those most concerned about side effects and disagreement among experts were less likely to vaccinate.

Investigating HPV- and HPV Vaccine-Related Knowledge, Perceptions, and Information Sources among Health Care Providers in Three Big Cities in China

“…Therefore, their knowledge and perceptions are important factors in influencing vaccine acceptability [43]. Many studies emphasized the need for more education for providers on HPV-related topics [14,25,27]. In this paper, we noted that interventions should not only aim at raising providers' knowledge level on HPV and its vaccine, but also should be based on providers' different characteristics such as specialty and the type of their hospitals, which would benefit them more by equipping them with confidence and adequate knowledge on recommendation of vaccination.…”

“…The concept of perceptions sometimes related to their perceived knowledge about some facts, such as their perceived benefits or risks about HPV vaccines [25]; however, in some cases, perceptions also were limited to their rating or confidence level of their knowledge on a certain topic [18,26]. Perception in our survey was adopted by this definition, and it was evaluated by asking three single questions about how well do they think they know about HPV/HPV vaccine/cervical cancer, which were based on previous work [19,27,28]. These questions were scored on a scale of 1-5, with 1 indicating they do not know it at all, 2 indicating that they only know it a little, 3 indicating they know it in general, 4 indicating they know it well, and 5 indicating they know it perfectly.…”

“…For the knowledge part, knowledge refers to participants' actual knowledge level and is objective. Six questions about HPV and 4 questions about HPV vaccine were selected from the literature [27,[29][30][31] and by discussion with a focus group, which was composed of experts in obstetricians and gynecologists, as well as specialists in health communication and education in China. All questions were multiple-choice questions and there was only one correct answer.…”

Knowledge, attitudes and awareness of the human papillomavirus among health professionals in New Zealand

“…Although mean knowledge levels for HPV and the HPV vaccine were reasonable (with each subset of questions yielding a mean percentage correct score of between 88% and 85%, respectively), only 25.2% and 44.3% of health professionals scored 100% in each category, respectively. Research has been conducted in other countries with HPV vaccination programmes to explore health professional knowledge about HPV and the vaccination (e.g., [11, 13, 14]). These studies reveal that, consistent with our NZ results, health professional knowledge about HPV and the HPV vaccination is frequently incomplete.…”

Knowledge, attitudes and awareness of the human papillomavirus among health professionals in New Zealand

“…Nilsen et al explored knowledge of and attitudes to HPV infection and vaccination among public health nurses and GPS in Northern Norway in 2010, one year after the HPV vaccination was introduced for 12 year-old girls in Norway 14 . Knowledge of HPV infection, vaccine and cervical cancer was measured with 7 open-ended questions (e.g.…”