Knowledge, understanding, attitude, perception and views on HPV infection and vaccination among health care students and professionals in Malaysia

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic data and respondents intention for vaccination.

Demographics	Characteristics	Frequency N (%)
Age	< 20 years old 20–35 years old	62 (10.7%) 473 (82.1%)
Gender Region	> 35 years old Female Male	41 (7.2%) 488 (84.3%) 88 (15.3%)
Marital Status Occupation	Central Region East Coast Region Northern Region Southern Region Married Single Job Student	244 (42.4%) 122 (21.2%) 132 (22.9%) 78 (13.5%) 31 (5.4%) 545 (94.6%) 61 (10.5%) 515 (89.4%)

Figure 1. Graphical representation of demographic data and respondents.

Table 2. Association of demographics characteristics of Malaysians towards HPV vaccination.

		Knowledge, and understanding towards HPV (%age)
Characteristics	Distribution	Good	Poor	P Value	OR (95% CI)
Gender	Male	39.7	60.3		1.0
	Female	80.0	19.7	0.00	0.0317 (0.017, 0.056)
Age	> 35 years	46.4	53.6		1.0
	20–35 years	65.4	34.6	0.001	3.21 (1.60, 6.43)
	< 20	74.2	25.8	0.022	3.05 (1.17, 7.95)
Occupation	Students	67.6	32.4		1.0
	Job	42.6	57.4	0.003	2.5814 (1.411, 4.722)
Region	Southern region	60.3	39.7		1.0
	Northern region	55.3	44.6	0.355	0.71 (0.34, 1.47)
	East Coast region	65.6	34.4	0.92	0.96 (0.45, 2.05)
	Central region	64.1	35.9	0.156	1.68 (0.82,3.46)
Marital Status	Single	72.3	27.7		1.0
	Married	58.5	41.5	0.048	2.3830 (1.059, 5.362)

Table 3. Association of demographics characteristics of Malaysians towards HPV vaccination.

		Attitude, perception and Views towards HPV (%age)
Characteristics	Distribution	Positive	Negative	P Value	OR (95% CI)
Gender	Male	56.1	43.8		Ref
	Female	60.0	40.0	0.004	0.912 (0.85, 0.97)
Age	> 35 years	68.3	31.7		Ref
	20–35 years	64.7	35.3	0.004	0.96 (0.87, 1.06)
	< 20	54.8	45.1	0.327	0.96 (0.84, 1.08)
Occupation	Students	56.0	43.9		Ref
	Job	62.3	37.7	0.476	0.97 (0.89. 1.05)
Region	Southern region	58.9	41.0		Ref
	Northern region	59.1	40.9	0.283	0.98 (0.89, 1.07)
	East Coast region	56.6	43.4	0.604	1.00 (0.91, 1.09)
	Central region	54.5	45.5	0.005	0.94 (0.86, 1.02)
Marital Status	Single	56.2	43.9		1.0
	Married	70.9	29.0	0.747	0.984 (0.87, 1.10)

Table 4. Participants attitude, perception and views towards HPV infection and vaccination.

Statements	Strongly Agree (%)	Agree (%)	Neutral (%)	Disagree (%)
Vaccinating young people against HPV would encourage them to become sexually active.	181 (31.4)	203 (35.2)	157 (27.2)	36 (6.2)
If I get the vaccination, it is not necessary for me to be protected against other sexual transmitted infections.	172 (29.8)	185 (32.0)	146(25.3)	74 (12.8)
Only sexually active women should receive the vaccine.	327(56.6)	151(26.1)	67(11.6)	32(5.5)
I think my parents/guardians could pay for the vaccine.	84(14.5)	198(34.3)	189(32.6)	106(18.4)
I would get the vaccine if it were for free.	44 (7.62)	44(7.6)	93(16.1)	396(68.6)
I would pay for the vaccine if I could.	39(6.6)	126(21.8)	219(37.9)	193(33.4)
It is not necessary for me to get the vaccination.	245(42.5)	210(36.4)	87(15.1)	35(6.1)
My parents would not allow me to get the vaccine.	371(64.3)	138(23.9)	43(7.5)	25(4.3)

Table 5. Knowledge and understanding of Malaysian towards HPV infection and vaccination.

			Question for analyzing knowledge and understanding of Malaysian citizens*.
Characteristics	Distribution	Opinion	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8
Gender	Female	Yes	84.4	90.8	72.5	75.4	63.7	89.9	72.1	92.9
		No	15.3	9.5	27.7	24.8	36.5	10.3	28.1	7.3
	Male	Yes	51.2	39.7	33.1	28.1	12.4	82.6	36.4	33.9
		No	48.7	60.3	66.4	71.9	87.6	17.4	63.6	66.1
Age	< 20	Yes	74.2	90.3	70.9	70.9	67.7	90.3	56.5	80.7
		No	25.8	9.7	29.0	29.0	32.3	9.7	43.6	19.4
	20–35	Yes	79.3	79.7	63.2	65.8	54.8	88.6	68.5	82.2
		No	20.7	20.5	37.0	34.5	45.5	11.6	31.7	17.9
	> 35	Yes	58.5	68.3	65.9	53.7	9.8	82.9	31.7	60.9
		No	41.5	31.7	34.2	46.3	90.2	17.1	68.3	39.0
Occupation	Student	Yes	79.0	81.9	64.9	66.9	56.5	88.7	67.4	82.5
		No	20.9	18.1	35.2	33.0	43.5	11.3	32.6	17.5
	Job	Yes	63.9	63.9	59.0	52.5	22.9	85.3	40.9	63.9
		No	36.1	36.1	40.9	47.5	77.1	14.8	59.0	36.1
Region	South	Yes	78.2	70.5	51.3	60.3	61.5	94.9	65.4	71.8
		No	21.8	29.5	48.7	39.7	38.5	5.1	34.6	28.2
	East	Yes	78.7	80.3	65.6	61.5	55.7	85.3	68.9	77.1
		No	21.3	19.7	34.4	38.5	44.3	14.8	31.2	22.9
	North	Yes	75.8	70.5	49.2	46.9	46.9	86.4	57.6	83.3
		No	24.2	29.6	50.8	53.0	53.0	13.6	42.4	16.7
	Central	Yes	77.1	87.8	75.5	78.8	51.8	88.6	65.7	83.3
		No	22.9	12.2	24.5	21.2	48.2	11.4	34.3	16.7
Marital Status	Married	Yes	58.1	74.2	70.9	58.1	16.1	80.7	41.9	67.7
		No	41.9	25.2	29.0	41.9	83.9	19.4	58.1	32.3
	Single	Yes	78.4	80.2	63.7	65.6	54.9	88.6	65.8	81.1
		No	21.6	19.8	36.3	34.2	45.1	11.4	34.3	18.9

* Questions are listed in Table 6.

Table 6. Questions for analysing knowledge and understanding of Malaysian health care students and professionals.

Q1	The human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause genital warts and some cancers.
Q2	HPV can cause cervical cancer.
Q3	HPV is a sexually transmitted disease.
Q4	HPV is very common in Malaysia.
Q5	Have you taken the HPV vaccination?
Q6	If yes, Did you received get all the doses of vaccine?
Q7	Do you know about approved vaccine available in Malaysia.
Q8	Getting a HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer.