Exploration of health service users’ knowledge of HPV and immunization against the virus

Purpose: The human papiloma virus is sexually transmitted and is related to cancer mostly in female reproductive system. However it is nowadays possible to prevent the particular virus due to the vaccine against HPV. The present exploratory descriptive research study, taking into account the high prevalence of HPV and also the potentiality of its prevention, attempts to explore the current knowledge of health service users of reproductive age regarding HPV and immunization against it. Material and method: The population sample constituted individuals (n=144) of reproductive age (19-49 years old) selected as health service users in Attica and Crete. A descriptive quantitative survey was conducted employing a structured closed type questionnaire with 23 items was used. The questionnaire comprised questions about the socio-demographic profile of the respondents, sexual behaviors, knowledge of health service users on HPV and the vaccine against HPV. For the statistical analysis the SPSS 13.0 software was used, whereas descriptive statistics were applied to analyzing the data. Results: The vast majority of the respondents (93%) however reported having sexual intercourse, a significant percentage (62%) of the respondents reported regular use of a protective means (62%), although 1/3 of the respondents report never use condoms. Regarding information sources, only 16% of the sample uses valid sources of information, whereas considerable confusion in respect to the symptoms of HPV and the methods of detecting HPV is observed. The 1/5 of the population does not appear to know the main transmission way of HPV, while 1/3 of the sample reports wrong transmission canals. Finally, only 8% of the population has been vaccinated against HPV, while 30% of the population shows ignorance as for the existence of HPV vaccine. Conclusions: The self-reported sexual behaviors, information on HPV and the vaccine against this virus are satisfactory. However an extremely small proportion of the respondents is immunized against HPV, while concurrently significant knowledge gaps are evident regarding the sample population’s knowledge regarding HPV and immunization against HPV.