Objectives: To examine the knowledge and perceptions of 11-year old girls and their guardians toward the human papillomavirus (HPV), HPV (mandatory) useful and meaningful way and this will positively influence the decision-making process as it pertains to HPV vaccination. The Ministry of Health in Guyana has undertaken to introduce the HPV vaccine for 11-year old girls. Thus, a study that focusses on the knowledge and perceptions of the target population would be both timely and provide helpful, scientific data about the likely success of any HPV vaccination intervention. This study seeks to evaluate the knowledge of HPV, the HPV vaccine, and cervical cancer among 11-year old girls and their guardians; to examine their opinions about making the vaccine mandatory and their willingness to be vaccinated and also to compare their sources of health information for any significant differences.
SUBJECTS AND METHODSA cross-sectional survey, on two different study populations, was carried out in May to June 2012, and was used to examine the level of knowledge in a sample of 11-year old girls and their guardians. To select the girls, five primary schools in Georgetown were chosen from among the 30 government/public schools listed by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for the Georgetown region. The schools were selected using systematic random sampling. The starting point was chosen using a table of random numbers and every other sixth school was then selected. Similarly, using the class register, every other two girls from each class were randomly chosen, totalling about 15-20 girls per school. One class per school was chosen if a school had more than one class of 11-year old girls. The head teacher together with the class teacher determined which class would be chosen based on availability on the timetable. The target sample size was 100 girls, considering that there are about 900 11-year old girls in the public school system in Georgetown based on verbal communication with an MoE official. The sample size was determined using an appropriate statistical formula for minimum sample and was estimated at 96 for a 95% level of confidence and using the formula N = Z 2 P (1-P)/d 2 where P or anticipated population proportion was set at 50% or 0; d or desired precision was set at 10% and for 95% level of confidence and z = 1.960 (11).The researchers intended to interview at least one guardian for each student which would give 100 guardians. A