Knowledge and perception of female nursing students about human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical cancer, and attitudes toward HPV vaccination.

The researchers aimed to evaluate the knowledge and perceptions of first-year female nursing students about human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical cancer (CC), and HPV vaccination. The sample included 690 female nursing students from sampled universities between April and June 2015. Students were surveyed by using a pretested HPV and CC awareness questionnaire. More than half of the students (65.1%) answered questions incorrectly with a mean HPV knowledge score of 6.085 ± 3.38. The majority of students (82.6%) did not hear HPV vaccine. Only, 2.8% of the students had been vaccinated. A statistically significant relationship was found between HPV knowledge score and hearing about HPV vaccine ( = 28280.500,  = .015), and believing HPV vaccine protectiveness ( = 14.153,  = .001). This study highlights the lack of knowledge and low level of awareness about HPV, CC, and HPV vaccination among first-year nursing college students.