Knowledge and attitudes of university students and their mothers regarding the Human Papilloma Virus

Introduction: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted diseases in both men and women worldwide. Aim: The investigation of the knowledge of university students and their mothers about the HPV, the ways of transmission, prevention and vaccination. Material and Method: The studied population consisted of 605 students from Technological Educational Institute of Athens and 50 mothers which filled two different questionnaires with closed-ended questions. Data was statistically processed with Microsoft Excel and SPSS ver.20. Results: Although, a large percentage (84.5%) of the questioned students were sexually active, the majority of them (67.7%) had never done the human papilloma virus vaccine and they didn’t intended to do it (87.9%). Although questioned mothers were aware that both girls and boys should be vaccinated against HPV infection (83.7%), only 71.4% of them had vaccinated their children, because of their fear of possible side effects (p0.05). Conclusion: Although students and mothers were aware of the HPV and its prevention, they were not familiar with the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccine, maybe because more students had been informed about the HPV from their family mostly than their gynecologist.

Keywords: Human papilloma virus, vaccination, prevention, ways of transmission