Abstract

Objective: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the most common cause of cervical cancer. Vaccination is in an effective primary prevention for cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases. The objective of this study is to examine parents’ level of knowledge and attitudes about HPV vaccines.

Material and Methods: This descriptive study was performed during December 2018 - January 2019 with 203 parents of 9-18-year-old daughters. The questionnaires consisted of demographic variables, general knowledge of HPV, and parental attitudes regarding HPV vaccination were evaluated.

Results: The mean age of the 203 parents (80% mother and 20% father) was 39.1±6.1 years. Of the parents, 70% had not heard about HPV vaccine and 67% had not known that cervical cancer is a preventable disease. 62% of parents accepted to perform HPV vaccination for their daughter after informing. After informing about the price of the vaccine and the number of doses, 24% of parents replied ‘I would not accept the vaccine even if it was provided free by the state’. Their most important reason was not having enough information about the vaccine (69%).

Conclusion: Most parents do not know anything about the HPV vaccine and they accept to vaccinate their children after having information about HPV vaccination. However, some parents reported that they would not allow their children to be vaccinated even if it was free of charge. Health care workers have an important role to make families be aware of this issue.

Keywords: Cervical cancer, HPV vaccine, Parents

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Copyright and license

Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Altınel Açoğlu E, Oğuz MM, Şenel S. Parents’ Knowledge and Attitudes About HPV Vaccination. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2019 Mar. 26 [cited 2025 Aug. 23];13(2):78-82. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/624