Knowledge, understanding, attitude, perception and views on HPV infection and vaccination among health care students and professionals in Malaysia

Abstract

The human papilloma virus (HPV) is known to be a major causative agent of cervical cancers and warts, limited study has been conducted on its associated factors among health care students and professionals in Malaysia. The present study was carried to explore the knowledge, understanding, attitude, perception and views about HPV infection and vaccination. A total of 576 respondents were recruited to complete a self-administered questionnaire through convenience sampling across Malaysia. 80.% and of the females respondents exhibited a positive attitude towards knowledge and understanding and 60% exhibited a positive towards attitude, perception and views. Almost 65% of the population were in agreement that HPV can be transmitted sexually, and 56.7% felt strongly that sexually active persons should essentially be vaccinated. The corresponding values were somewhat lower among the male respondents. Regression analysis suggested that knowledge and understanding were strong associated with gender, age, and occupation. Attitude, perception and views were also evidently associated with gender and age. The Ministry of Health should take steps to improve awareness among the citizens. Efforts should be made to educate people on the risk of HPV as a sexually transmitted diseases associated with HPV, and on the availability of discounted and safe HPV vaccines in government hospitals to increase the uptake rate of HPV vaccines among the Malaysian population.

Assessment of knowledge and attitude among postnatal mothers towards childhood vaccination in Malaysia

“…Communitybased educational interventions are strongly needed, to improve parent's knowledge and attitude toward the government-sponsored vaccination program. 23,24 The concern of childhood vaccination is often testified as one of the hallmark attainment in public and child health promotion, despite this realization, the idea has been challenged particularly due to lack of awareness among mothers. This paper provides insight about mothers knowledge and attitude toward children's vaccination as the findings obtained may serve as the basis for effective intervention.…”

A Scoping Review of Knowledge, Awareness, Perceptions, Attitudes, and Risky Behaviors of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Southeast Asia

“…The top three points of focus among knowledge, awareness, perception, attitude, and risky behaviors include knowledge ( n = 43), attitude ( n = 20), and risky behavior ( n = 17). Five focused on perception [ 1 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], and only two on awareness [ 14 , 15 ]. Questionnaire surveys ( n = 40) and interviews ( n = 29) were the two most popular methods used in data collection.…”

“…Based on the sex profile, most of the studies reported females to have higher levels of knowledge, awareness, attitude, and perception compared to males ( n = 7). It is to noted however that a fair comparison is not possible, as many of these studies had a skewed distribution whereby females outnumbered males [ 10 , 40 , 43 ]. Additionally, some of these studies also specifically targeted female participants [ 1 , 14 , 39 ].…”