Study of knowledge and attitude of medical students toward Human Papilloma virus (HPV) in Mashhad

Human papillomavirus (HPV), as the most common sexually transmitted disease, is directly associated with cervical cancer. It is important to determine the knowledge and attitude of medical students who can promote community awareness about cervical cancer.

This study aimed to determine knowledge and attitude about human papillomavirus in medical students of Islamic Azad University of Mashhad.

In this cross-sectional study, 280 medical students of Islamic Azad University of Mashhad were studied. The information was obtained by a questionnaire consisting of two parts of knowledge (36 questions) and attitude (9 questions) whose validity and reliability were confirmed. The data were analyzed by using SPSS24 software.

The mean age was 24.84 ± 2.55 years and 75% of them were females. The mean score of knowledge was 20.35 ± 3.54, indicating a relatively low level of awareness in medical students and was significantly correlated with age, level and passage of infectious subject. But there was not any significantly correlation with gender, history and marital status. The mean score of attitude was 13.56 ± 3.07, which indicates a low attitude of students and was higher in stager students without passing the infectious subject. Also, the score of awareness is inversely related to the attitude score.

Considering the low scores of medical students' knowledge and attitude about human papillomavirus, it is suggested that educational programs should be planned to raise students' awareness as future physicians of the country in the course of study about human papillomavirus and vaccination.