IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i11p6939-d832457.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Level of Knowledge, Beliefs and Acceptance of HPV Vaccine: A Cross-Sectional Study in Romania

Author

Listed:
  • Toader Septimiu Voidăzan

    (Department of Epidemiology, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania)

  • Mihaela Alexandra Budianu

    (Department of Epidemiology, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania)

  • Florin Francisc Rozsnyai

    (Department of Obstetrics Gynecology, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania)

  • Zsolt Kovacs

    (Department of Biochemistry, Environmental Chemistry, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania)

  • Cosmina Cristina Uzun

    (Department of Biochemistry, Environmental Chemistry, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania)

  • Nicoleta Neagu

    (Department of Epidemiology, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania)

Abstract

(1) Background: The infection with Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection and it has been associated with cervical cancer (CC) in 99.7% of the cases. In Romania, CC is the second most common, with incidence (22.6% 000 ) and mortality rates (9.6% 000 ) three times higher than any other European country. Our aim was to assess the level of knowledge regarding HPV infection among parents, highschool students, medical students and doctors, with an emphasis on their main source of information—the Internet. (2) Methods: We applied five questionnaires to six categories of respondents: parents of pupils in the 6th–8th grades, medical students, doctors, boys in the 11th–12th grades, girls in the 11th–12th grades and their mothers. (3) Results: We included a total of 3108 respondents. 83.83% of all respondents had known about HPV infection. The level of information about HPV infection and vaccination was either satisfactory, poor or very poor. Their main source of information varied depending on the respondent profile and professional activity. Medical students were informed by doctors and healthcare professionals (53.0%), doctors gathered their information from books, journals and specialized brochures (61.6%). For the other categories of respondents, the Internet was the main source of information. Most respondents answered that doctors and healthcare professionals should provide information on HPV infection and vaccination, but very few of them actually seeked information from their general practitioner. (4) Conclusions: Population adherence to the appropriate preventative programs, as well as relevant information disseminated by the medical staff are key elements towards reducing the risk of HPV-associated cancers. An important role could also be played by schools, where teachers and school doctors could provide relevant information on the general aspects of HPV infection. Additionally, sex education classes and parent-teacher meetings should cover the main characteristics of HPV infection and what preventative measures can be employed against it.

Suggested Citation

  • Toader Septimiu Voidăzan & Mihaela Alexandra Budianu & Florin Francisc Rozsnyai & Zsolt Kovacs & Cosmina Cristina Uzun & Nicoleta Neagu, 2022. "Assessing the Level of Knowledge, Beliefs and Acceptance of HPV Vaccine: A Cross-Sectional Study in Romania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-10, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6939-:d:832457
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6939/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6939/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katarzyna Smolarczyk & Wojciech Pieta & Slawomir Majewski, 2021. "Assessment of the State of Knowledge about HPV Infection and HPV Vaccination among Polish Resident Doctors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-18, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Toader Septimiu Voidăzan & Cosmina Cristina Uzun & Zsolt Kovacs & Florin Francisc Rosznayai & Sabin Gligore Turdean & Mihaela-Alexandra Budianu, 2023. "The Hybrid Capture 2 Results in Correlation with the Pap Test, Sexual Behavior, and Characteristics of Romanian Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-12, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karolina Sobeczek & Mariusz Gujski & Filip Raciborski, 2022. "HPV Vaccination: Polish-Language Facebook Discourse Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-10, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6939-:d:832457. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.