• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.14
• /
• pp.5773-5779
• /
• 2014

Background: Since cervical cancer can be prevented and controlled through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, it is important to train health care providers and provide them with appropriate knowledge. This study aimed to understand the level of HPV related knowledge among medical students and correlates in Southwest China in order to address any potential gap in their knowledge base. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among medical students in six selected universities across Southwest China based on a pretested questionnaire regarding HPV infection, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccines. Results: We successfully surveyed 1, 878 medical students, of whom 32.1% were males and 67.9% were females. Their mean age was 20.8 (standard deviation: 1.3) years. 91.8% of them were ethnic Han Chinese, and 43.8% were students in clinical medicine. While 76.5% had heard of HPV only 48.8% knew that the prevention of cervical cancer was possible through HPV vaccination. Only 42.9% of the male and 49.2% of the female students correctly answered over 10 out of 22 questions on HPV related knowledge. Female students appeared to know more about HPV and HPV vaccination (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.11-1.75). In addition, the student knowledge improved with the grade (p<0.001). University courses were the most selected source of knowledge about HPV vaccination (66.4%). 83.6% of males and 91.4% of females were willing to have more HPV related education by experts (p<0.001). Only 10.1% of the students acknowledged that people had asked for their advice regarding HPV vaccination. Conclusions: Our survey indicates that medical students from Southwest China have poor knowledge of HPV and HPV vaccination, but are willing to receive more relevant information. Targeted education should be incorporated into school courses to inform these future health care providers and ensure success of programs for cervical cancer control and prevention.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.37-53
• /
• 2021

Background and objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection globally and is responsible for multiple clinical outcomes, including genital warts and cervical, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers. Despite the well established burden of HPV on both men and women, vaccine uptake among men is critically low in Korea. A preliminary step to combat this issue is to target parents of male adolescents. In the present study, we aimed to assess any change observed in parents' HPV knowledge and attitudes towards male HPV and subsequent willingness to vaccinate their sons following an HPV educational intervention. Methods: On November 14, 2020, a one-time HPV educational session was conducted and parents (n=136) completed self-administered pre-/post-test questionnaires that included previously validated survey items. Paired t-tests were used to evaluate change in HPV-related knowledge, attitudes and intent for HPV vaccination. Results: Following the intervention, participants reported increased scores in HPV and vaccine related knowledge by approximately 4 and 1.5 points, respectively (p<.001). Parents scored higher on perceived benefits of the vaccine, perceived social influence on vaccination decision and perceived severity of diseases caused by HPV infections, whereas lower scores were observed for perceived harm of the vaccine, and difficulties communicating with their sons about sex and HPV vaccination. Following the intervention, those without the intent to vaccinate their sons significantly decreased and those who intended to vaccinate their sons though not in the next six months significantly increased (χ2=33.045, p<.001) Conclusion: Our educational intervention resulted in an increase in HPV-related knowledge with a positive impact on parents' attitudes toward male HPV vaccination. We expect that this study can serve as a pivotal reference to promote the unexplored issue of HPV vaccination among male adolescents in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.2991-2999
• /
• 2013

Background: Introduction of the HPV vaccine is a forefront primary prevention method in reducing the incidence of carcinogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. The Malaysia government has implemented the National HPV immunisation programme since 2010, supplying HPV vaccine free to targeted 13 year olds. This study aimed to explore the level of knowledge among mothers on cervical cancer, HPV, HPV vaccine and National HPV (NHPV) immunisation programme since its' implementation. It also assessed acceptance of mothers towards HPV vaccine being administered to their daughter, son or themselves. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 155 respondents using self-administered questionnaires; conducted in December 2012 at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Respondents were selected using a multistage sampling technique. Results: A response rate of 100% was obtained. Overall, 51.0% of mothers had good knowledge, with 55% having good knowledge of cervical cancer, 54.2% for both HPV and the National HPV immunisation programme and 51.0% for the HPV vaccine. Regression analyses showed that ethnicity was associated with knowledge on cervical cancer (p=0.003) while education was associated with knowledge on HPV (p=0.049). Three factors are associated with knowledge of the National HPV immunisation programme; ethnicity (p=0.017), mothers' education (p=0.0005) and number of children (p=0.020). The acceptance of HPV vaccine to be administered among daughter was the highest at 87.1%, followed by for mothers themselves at 73.5%, and the least is for sons 62.6%. Conclusions: This study found that the overall level of knowledge was moderate. Adequate information on cervical cancer, HPV, HPV vaccination and the National HPV immunisation programme should be provided to mothers in order to increase acceptance of the HPV vaccine which can reduce the disease burden in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.15
• /
• pp.6769-6772
• /
• 2015

Background: High risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the leading cause of cervical cancer (CC) and Pap smear screening has not been successful in preventing CC in Tunisia. HPV vaccination that targets HPV16 and 18 offers a new efficient prevention tool. Identification of HPV types in CC is thus essential to determine the impact of HPV vaccine implementation. The aim of this study is to provide specific data from Tunisia. Materials and Methods: A total of 89 histological confirmed paraffin embedded samples isolated from patients with CC diagnosed between 2001 and 2011 were collected from five medical centres from Northern and Southern Tunisia. HPV DNA was detected using a nested PCR (MY09/MY11-GP5+/GP6+) and genotyping was assessed using a reverse blot line hybridisation assay that enables the detection of 32 HPV types. Results: HPV DNA was detected in all samples. Twelve high risk types were detected; HPV16 and/or 18 were predominant, accounting together for 92.1% of all the CC cases (HPV16: 83.1%). Single infections accounted for 48.8% of the cases and were mostly linked to HPV 16 (32.6%) and less frequently to HPV 18 (2.4%). The other high risk HPV single infections were linked to HPV 35 (4.6%), 45 (4.6%), 58 (2.3%) and 59 (2.3%). Multiple infections with mixing of 2 to 4 genotypes predominately featrued HPV16 and/or 18 with HPV 35 and 45 (96.6 %) and less frequently with HPV 59, 40, 66, 73 and 58. There was no statistically significant variation in the relative distribution of HPV types with age. Conclusions: These results strongly indicate that prophylactic HPV vaccines can have a major impact in preventing CC in Tunisia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.4267-4272
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the opinions of Turkish adolesecent girls and their parents about HPV vaccination and the consistency. Methods: This descriptive study covered 301 girls and their parents. Questionnares were developed by the researchers based on findings within the literature and applied for data collection. Results: The mean age was 19.4 for girls, 44.2 for mothers and 47.9 for fathers. It was found that 43.5 percent of girls and 31.9 percent of mothers wish to be vaccinated against HPV. Also, 45.5 percent of mothers and 44.9 percent of fathers wish for their daughters to be vaccinated against HPV. A moderate consistency was found between mothers and fathers; a low consistency was found between fathers and girls, and between mothers and girls. Conclusions: The study indicates that an appropriate background has been partially provided about the acceptability of the vaccine between parents and their daughters in Turkey. However, the vast majority of adolescent girls and parents are indecisive or reluctant about HPV vaccination. This study also showed that the decisions of adolescents about vaccination may be affected by the opinions of the parents.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.3983-3988
• /
• 2016

Background: Cervical cancer though preventable is still the leading cause of cancer death among women secondary to breast cancer. Persistent infection with HPV has been causally linked to the disease. A school based HPV vaccination program was introduced in late 2010 in Malaysia and nurse support is essential for its success. Objectives: To determine nurses knowledge and attitudes about HPV infection and its vaccines, and factors associated with their knowledge. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working at primary health clinics in Kelantan from mid-June till the end of July 2014. Its involved 330 nurses selected through multistage random sampling. A validated self-administered questionnaire consisting of 11 items for the knowledge domain and eight items for the attitude domain was used. Results: The response rate of the study was 93.7%. The mean knowledge and mean attitude (SD) scores were 5.37 (1.76) and 29.8 (3.51) respectively. Only 24% knew that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and 67% correctly answered that Gardasil vaccine can protect against four types of HPV. Nearly 60% of participants wrongly answered that HPV vaccines cannot be offered to sexually active women. Likewise, 70.9% participants were not aware that HPV vaccine may be appropriate for females aged 9 through 26 years. Though 90% of participants believed that the vaccine is safe, nearly half of them were unsure about efficacy. From multiple linear regression analysis, among the factors tested only participant's level of education showed a statistically significant association with the HPV knowledge score (p <0.001). Conclusions: This study indicates nurses have favorable attitudes towards HPV vaccination; however they have significant knowledge deficit and major misunderstanding in critical knowledge items. Among the factors tested, nursing qualification is the only factor that is significantly associated with the nurses knowledge score.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.144-152
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the level of Human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge, intention of HPV vaccination, and barriers on HPV vaccination among male undergraduate students of Health department and Non-health department. Methods: A total of 149 male undergraduate students responded to self-administered questionnaires about their HPV knowledge, HPV vaccination intention, and their barriers on HPV vaccination. ANOVA, t-test and $x^2$ test (Fisher's exact test) were used for data analysis. Results: Mean score of HPV knowledge was $3.39{\pm}3.05$, and there was significant difference between Health department ($4.15{\pm}3.08$) and Non-health department ($2.58{\pm}2.82$) in HPV knowledge (t=3.241, p=.001). There was no significant difference in HPV vaccination acceptance between the two groups. The barriers on HPV vaccination were 'lack of information about HPV vaccine efficacy' and 'lack of information about HPV vaccination time and strategy', and there were significant differences in barriers on HPV vaccination between the two groups. Conclusion: The knowledge on HPV was low, and HPV vaccination was hindered due to lack of information about HPV vaccine despite their intention to obtain HPV vaccine. HPV education to promote HPV vaccination should be targeted among male students.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.345-356
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge level of human papilloma virus and performance of anti-cervical cancer vaccine among health college student in Korea. A quantitative, descriptive design was used to study 471 students in Ulsan, recruited from April 1 to May 30, 2011. The data were analyzed SPSS program, using descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA. The percentage of the participants who received HPV vaccination was 4.0%. The average level of health belief and knowledge about human papilloma virus were 3.05, 5.01 points. Therefore, it is needed to reduce HPV infection through concrete educational programs and advertisement. Also, this educational programs need to include strategies the knowledge of human papilloma virus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.1738-1741
• /
• 2007

The first vaccine against human papillomaviruses (HPV) formulated with HPV16 L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) produced in yeast was approved by the FDA in June 2006. Nevertheless, there have been few studies of the immunogenicity in mice of VLPs. In this study, we evaluated the cell-mediated immune response to VLPs produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After immunization of mice with HPV16 L1 VLPs, we measured splenocytes proliferation and the levels of IFN$_{\gamma}$, IL2, IL4, and IL5. Splenocytes proliferation was significantly increased and a mixed Th1/Th2 response was indicated. IgG subtype immunoresponses were strongly induced and IgG1 titers were higher than those of IgG2a.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.50 no.8
• /
• pp.810-818
• /
• 2007