Knowledge and Perceptions of HPV and the HPV Vaccine among Pre-adolescent Girls and their Guardians in Georgetown, Guyana

Abstract

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

Knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards compulsory vaccination: a systematic review

“…38,47 Higher percentages of agreement were found when assessing young adults' attitudes towards HPV vaccination (from 35.7 in Hungary to 82.2% in Malaysia), 25,46 although in the study by Tyrell et al most girls opposing mandatory vaccination indicated that information was limited. 47 Other studies included in this analysis investigated healthcare workers' attitudes towards childhood and adult vaccinations. In Italy, according to two studies, the majority of healthcare personnel and doctors thought that mandatory vaccination should be maintained.…”

“…A total of 22 studies assessed knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards vaccination programs [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] (Table 1), while 9 papers, two of which presented results obtained from the same study, assessed attitudes towards the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine in young girls specifically (Table 2). 25,26,38,[44][45][46][47]…”

“…There were 8 studies (9 papers) focusing on HPV vaccination, published between 2010 26,38,48,49 and 2016. 25 Half of the studies were performed in the USA, 26,38,44,48,49 one in Malaysia, 46 one in Guyana, 47 one in Nigeria 45 and one in Hungary. 25 Samples consisted of parents and caretakers of adolescents in a first group of studies, 26,38,44,49 students from high school in two studies, 25,46 both parents and children in one study, 47 and women over 18 years old in the two final studies.…”

“…25 Four studies assessed knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about HPV vaccination in parents or caretakers of adolescents. 26,38,44,47,49 The percentage of agreement with mandatory vaccination ranged from 27% 47 to 63.5%. 44 The study with the lowest percentage of agreement was a crosssectional survey performed in Guyana in 2015 47 on two different study populations, which examined the level of knowledge on HPV vaccination in a sample of 11-year old girls (N = 87) and their guardians (N = 74 parents or schoolteachers who had 11-year old daughters).…”

“…In the above-mentioned study by Tyrell et al, the sample consisted of 87 11-year old girls from five primary schools in Georgetown and their guardians. 47 Forty per cent of the girls involved thought that the vaccine should be made mandatory. Most of the girls that were against mandatory vaccination indicated that information was limited and that vaccination should be a personal choice.…”