Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Yakin Dogu Bulvari, 99138, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus.
J Prev (2022). 2022 Apr;43(2):225-240. doi: 10.1007/s10935-021-00657-w. Epub 2022 Jan 28.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is one of the most cost-effective public health measures for preventing cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases. However, the vaccine uptake in many countries remains suboptimal. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness of parents towards HPV, related diseases, and HPV vaccines, as well as to examine the effect of brief educational information on parents' vaccine acceptability. We used a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect information from 227 outpatient visitors to a healthcare center who had children under the age of 19 years. We asked parents again about their acceptance of HPV vaccines after being provided brief educational information. Of all the parents, 43% were aware of HPV and related diseases, and 59% of those had sufficient knowledge regarding HPV while 45% of them reported that they were aware of HPV vaccines. Being Northern Cypriot was a predictor of having good knowledge, whilst being a female, having a higher education level, being 35 years or older, and being employed were the significant predictors of having greater awareness of HPV and related diseases. The HPV vaccine acceptance of the parents increased substantially in all sociodemographic groups after the provision of the educational information. The findings demonstrated that the vaccination rates of children of parents who have insufficient knowledge and awareness of HPV and vaccines are also very low. Effective educational interventions based on the specific sociodemographic characteristics of the patients should be given a stronger focus to improve vaccine acceptability among this population.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）疫苗是预防宫颈癌和其他 HPV 相关疾病最具成本效益的公共卫生措施之一。然而，许多国家的疫苗接种率仍然不理想。本横断面研究旨在评估父母对 HPV、相关疾病和 HPV 疫苗的知识和认识，并研究简要教育信息对父母疫苗可接受性的影响。我们使用结构化访谈员管理的问卷从一家医疗中心的 227 名门诊访客中收集信息，这些访客的孩子年龄在 19 岁以下。在提供简要教育信息后，我们再次询问父母对 HPV 疫苗的接受程度。在所有父母中，43%的人了解 HPV 和相关疾病，其中 59%的人对 HPV 有足够的了解，而 45%的人报告说他们了解 HPV 疫苗。北塞浦路斯人是具有良好知识的预测因素，而女性、受教育程度较高、35 岁或以上以及就业是对 HPV 和相关疾病具有更高认识的显著预测因素。在提供教育信息后，所有社会人口统计学群体的父母 HPV 疫苗接种接受率都大幅增加。研究结果表明，对 HPV 和疫苗了解不足和认识不足的父母的孩子的疫苗接种率也非常低。应该更加关注基于患者特定社会人口统计学特征的有效教育干预措施，以提高该人群对疫苗的可接受性。
