Evaluation of medical faculty students' knowledge and attitudes about HPV infection and HPV vaccine

Background: Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted viral disease. It was aimed to evaluate the knowledge levels and attitudes of medical faculty students about HPV infection and vaccine. Methods: Our descriptive cross-sectional study; was made with the medical faculty students studying at the Harran University Faculty of Medicine in the 2019-2020 academic year. A total of 645 students were reached, excluding those who refused to participate in the study and those who were not at the faculty or hospital for any reason. Data were collected using a questionnaire method. NCSS 2007 program was used for statistical analysis. Results: 645 students were included in this study ( 52.9% (n = 341) is male, 47.1% (n = 304) is female, and average age of them is 21.46 ± 2.39 years). 75.3% of the students stated that they have information about HPV infection. The HPV infection knowledge level scores of the married were higher than the singles (p = 0.005; p <0.01). 51.2% of the students stated that they had knowledge about the HPV vaccine. HPV vaccine knowledge level scores of women were compared to men (p = 0.019; p <0.05); and the scores of married people were also higher than singles (p = 0.016; p <0.05). Only 1.9% of the students had the HPV vaccine. Conclusion: In our study, it was seen that the medical faculty students’ knowledge about HPV infection and vaccine was not sufficient, and the methods that should be used to provide more effective education should be determined. We believe that it will be beneficial to add the HPV vaccine to the national vaccine program in our country.