Choi Jihye, Kim Seyoung, Lee Seung-Ju, Bae Sangrak, Kim Sooyoun
Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA.
Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
World J Mens Health. 2023 Apr;41(2):413-421. doi: 10.5534/wjmh.210262. Epub 2022 May 4.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections affecting both males and females but there is an apparent lack of knowledge and apprehension towards male HPV vaccination South Korea. The purpose of the present study was to examine the associations between knowledge and perceptions of male HPV vaccination and vaccination intent among Korean mothers of adolescent sons.
We conducted a cross-sectional study using a nationwide online survey. The independent variables were mothers' sociodemographic characteristics, history of HPV diagnosis, general HPV knowledge, HPV vaccine knowledge, and attitudes and beliefs towards male HPV vaccination. The outcome variable was mothers' intent to vaccinate their sons, which was classified into three categories: non-intent, undecided and intend to vaccinate. We performed univariate analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis.
A total of 906 eligible mothers completed the survey. Mothers received low scores on the HPV-related knowledge scales with low ratings on the scale measuring perceived risk of HPV. Approximately 10% of the mothers intended to vaccinate their sons against HPV, 61.0% were undecided and 1.5% already had their sons vaccinated. According to the multinominal logistic regression analysis, having a daughter in the family, mothers' previous diagnosis with HPV, general HPV knowledge, influence, harm, and risk were significantly associated with being undecided and having intentions to vaccinate their sons (p<0.05).
Our study revealed that Korean mothers are generally less aware of male HPV vaccination, have low perceived risk of HPV, and remain highly hesitant on vaccinating their sons against HPV. It is therefore important to raise public awareness about male HPV vaccination and alleviate vaccine hesitancy. Such efforts will contribute to improving parents' vaccination intent, increasing vaccine uptake among male adolescents and prevention of HPV-associated diseases.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）是影响男性和女性的最常见性传播感染之一，但韩国对男性HPV疫苗接种明显缺乏了解和担忧。本研究的目的是调查韩国青春期儿子的母亲对男性HPV疫苗接种的知识、认知与接种意愿之间的关联。
我们通过全国性在线调查进行了一项横断面研究。自变量为母亲的社会人口学特征、HPV诊断史、一般HPV知识、HPV疫苗知识以及对男性HPV疫苗接种的态度和信念。结果变量是母亲为儿子接种疫苗的意愿，分为三类：无意愿、未决定和打算接种。我们进行了单因素分析和多项逻辑回归分析。
共有906名符合条件的母亲完成了调查。母亲们在HPV相关知识量表上得分较低，在衡量HPV感知风险的量表上评分也较低。约10%的母亲打算为儿子接种HPV疫苗，61.0%未决定，1.5%的儿子已接种疫苗。根据多项逻辑回归分析，家中有女儿、母亲先前被诊断为HPV、一般HPV知识、影响、危害和风险与未决定以及打算为儿子接种疫苗显著相关（p<0.05）。
我们的研究表明，韩国母亲对男性HPV疫苗接种普遍了解较少，HPV感知风险较低，并且在为儿子接种HPV疫苗方面仍然非常犹豫。因此，提高公众对男性HPV疫苗接种的认识并减轻疫苗犹豫情绪很重要。这些努力将有助于提高父母的接种意愿，增加男性青少年的疫苗接种率，并预防HPV相关疾病。
