Knowledge, attitude, and uptake of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine among parents of adolescents attending outpatient clinic at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the knowledge, attitude and uptake of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine among 302 parents whose adolescents’ children utilized care services at the General Practice Units (GPU) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH). Systematic sampling technique was used to select respondents for the study. Self-administered questionnaire that was pretested was used in collecting information from the respondents. The characteristics of the respondents were described using simple proportion and frequency. Also, knowledge and attitude of respondents on HPV and its vaccine were presented using simple proportion and frequency. The Chi-square test examined factors associated with uptake of HPV vaccine. The results indicate that 42.4% of the respondents have heard of HPV infection, whil only 18.5% have heard of HPV vaccine. By contrast, 18.5% of the respondents reported that their children had been vaccinated. Attitude of the respondents on the vaccine was not impressive given that only 34.4% reported that the vaccine was important, while 56.6% reported that they will advise their friends to be vaccinated. A higher proportion of children who were vaccinated were those whose parents believed that their children will be vulnerable without vaccination and those whose religion did not disapprove of the vaccination. We conclude that the knowledge of HPV among parents in this population is low; the knowledge of the vaccine and its uptake is low; while attitude towards the vaccine is unimpressive. We recommend the adoption of intervention programmes to improve the knowledge and encourage th uptake of the vaccine among adolescents in this population.