| dc.description.abstract | Infection with genital high-risk types of human papilloma virus (HPV) can have several serious consequences, most notably cervical cancer. The appearance of the HPV vaccine was seen as a major public health breakthrough that would reduce the incidence of some types of cancers and genital warts along with the morbidity, mortality and costs associated with these diseases. In Serbia, vaccine against HPV is recommended by the Ministry of health, however, vaccination coverage is generally low. There is a number of factors influencing the decision to take the HPV vaccine, such as knowledge, which can be divided into a) HPV knowledge and b) HPV vaccination knowledge. As previous research has shown, after being informed about HPV vaccine, more than 4 out of 5 of participants would accept HPV vaccination. In this study, we explored what effect both of these knowledge aspects had on willingness to take HPV vaccine, determined by the statement I would vaccinate myself or my child. A total of 734 women (M (age) = 40.4 year) completed an online survey and gave answers on two sets of true/false questions related to HPV (e.g. I’m protected from HPV if I use a condom) and HPV vaccine (e.g. HPV vaccine can be applied to boys after the age of 9). Percentage of correct answers ranged from 35% to 92%, while in general knowledge on the HPV was higher than the knowledge on the HPV vaccine. The results of multinomial logistic regression showed that knowledge about HPV increases willingness to vaccinate (pseudo R2 = .09). Here, knowledge that HPV can induce cervical cancer was the best predictor, increasing the odds of expressing the willingness to vaccinate almost four times (Exp(B) = 3.83, p < .001). Knowledge about HPV vaccination was also related to willingness to vaccinate (pseudo R2 = .10): not being informed that HPV vaccine was recommended in Serbia lowered the chances to vaccinate two times (Exp(B) = 0.47, p = .006), while knowledge that it is recommended
for boys doubled the same chance (Exp(B) = 2.112, p = .024). Having in mind the variations in correct answer percentages, there is an open space for broadening the population's knowledge. Consequently, as results are indicating, filling up this gap by educating citizens not only about HPV but also about the vaccine itself, could condition the willingness for vaccine uptake. | sr |
