Evaluation of parents levels of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about human papilloma virus vaccine

Aim: It is stated that the positive beliefs and attitudes of the parents are important predictors of HPV vaccination. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the knowledge levels, attitudes and beliefs of parents who have daughters between the ages of 10-18. Method: The sample of this cross-sectional study consisted of 150 parents with girls between the ages of 10-18 who applied to two family health centers in a city center in Central Anatolia between November 2020 and January 2021. In data collection, the 'Information Form' prepared by the researcher in line with the literature to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of the parents and their knowledge and practices about HPV vaccination behaviors and The 'Carolina HPV Vaccination Attitudes and Beliefs Scale were used. Results: 74% of the study group was female and 26% was male, with a mean age of 38.27±8.26. The knowledge of 73.3% of the parents about the HPV vaccine is not sufficient. 60.7% of them want to receive education about HPV and HPV vaccine. The rate of HPV vaccination to daughters of the research group was 9.3%. The mean scores of the sub-dimensions of the CHIAS "harms, obstacles, effects and uncertainty" were 14.20±3.46, 8.36±2.41, 4.76±1.56, 4.75±1.17, respectively. Harms sub- dimension score was higher in those who are primary school graduates, who do not have enough knowledge about HPV vaccine, who do not have HPV vaccine and do not plan to have their children have it, Effects sub-dimension score was higher in who have postgraduate education, spend the longest time in the province, and are considering HPV vaccination for their children, and Uncertainty sub-dimension score was higher in who have a desire to receive education about HPV and its vaccine (p≤0.05). Conclusion: It was determined that a significant part of the parents did not know about the HPV vaccine and did not have their daughters vaccinated with HPV, the perceptions of harm, obstacles and uncertainty towards the HPV vaccine were high, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of the vaccine were moderate. Providing accurate information about HPV vaccine in the trainings to be given in order to positively change the perceptions of the parents towards the HPV vaccine and it may be recommended to emphasize the safety profile of the HPV vaccine. Key Words: Attitude, Belief, HPV, HPV vaccine, Knowledge, Parents