To evaluate the knowledge levels and attitudes of Ondokuz Mayıs Medical Faculty students about Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection and HPV vaccine

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge levels and attitudes of Ondokuz Mayıs Medical Faculty students about Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection and HPV vaccine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted on medical faculty students studying at Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine between 03.02.2023 and 10.04.2023 during the 2022-2023 academic year. By applying the stratified sampling method to each class; A total of 325 students, 55 from 1st grade, 59 from 2nd grade, 51 from 3rd grade, 70 from 4th grade, 42 from 5th grade and 48 from 6th grade, were included in the study. The students participating in the study were asked sociodemographic questions in the form of a questionnaire for the purpose of the study, and the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Knowledge Scale was used to determine the knowledge levels of the students about HPV and HPV vaccine. RESULTS: The minimum age of the students participating in the study is 19, the maximum age is 43, and the average age is 22.51 (SD=2.41). It was determined that 59.1% of the participants were women, 98.8% were single, 99.4% had no children, 76.6% did not smoke and 65.2% did not drink alcohol. 9.8% of the participants had a chronic disease, 84.3% had knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases, 12.5% had a diagnosed disease/disease related to gynecological diseases, 4.6% had a family history of uterus oral cancer history, 96.3% heard about cervical cancer before, 77.5% had knowledge about cervical cancer, 4.2% had pap-smear and 2.2% had HPV vaccine has been determined. CONCLUSION: In the studies conducted, it was determined that HPV awareness levels increased after the trainings on HPV and related diseases. In this regard, it is important to provide trainings for women, men and different age groups in order to increase HPV awareness and vaccination rates.