Abstract
Thailand has one of the world’s highest prevalence of cervical cancer, mainly caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV infections can successfully be prevented by vaccination, which is available at a cost but not yet implemented in the national vaccination program. Parents play a critical role in deciding whether to vaccinate their child against HPV. Thus, the aim was to examine the association between parents’ knowledge, beliefs, and acceptance of the HPV vaccination for their daughters, considering their socio-demographics and religious beliefs. A cross-sectional design was used among three schools in Thailand: Nakorn Phatom province (suburban) and Bangkok (urban). Parents of 9–12-year-old daughters completed the questionnaires, guided by the Health Belief Model. In total, 359 parents completed the questionnaires; of those, 301 were included in the final analyses. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis showed that background knowledge of HPV and the HPV vaccine was positively related to knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer. For beliefs, knowledge was positively associated with susceptibility (i.e., parents’ perceived risk of an HPV infection/ related disease), severity, and benefit. However, knowledge was not significantly related to barriers. For acceptance, higher susceptibility and benefit were related to higher acceptance, and greater knowledge was associated with higher acceptance. Thus, we found associations between parents’ knowledge, beliefs, and acceptance of the HPV vaccination for their daughters, considering their socio-demographics and religious beliefs. Parents, who reported religion as important, as opposed to those who did not, were more favorable toward the HPV vaccination. Four out of ten mothers had never undergone a cervical cancer screening, but most had accepted previous childhood vaccinations for their daughters. The overall acceptance of the vaccine was high, and we believe our results are promising for future implementation of the HPV vaccination in the national childhood vaccination program in Thailand.
Highlights
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the world’s most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) among women and men; the estimated lifetime probability of getting an infection is over 80% [1]
Based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) and literatures we reviewed, it was hypothesized that there would be differences among parents due to the demographic variables; parents with higher socio-economic status 1) had greater knowledge, 2) perceived more benefits, 3) perceived less barriers for the HPV vaccination, and 4) had higher HPV vaccine acceptance compared with parents with lower socio-economic status
In model 1, a significant relationship was found between four variables, including income, importance of religion, background knowledge of HPV, and background knowledge of the HPV vaccine
Summary
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the world’s most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) among women and men; the estimated lifetime probability of getting an infection is over 80% [1]. Four separate OLS analyses were conducted to examine how the knowledge from Model 1 is associated with beliefs about HPV and the HPV vaccine, which includes susceptibility, severity, benefit, and barriers of HPV and the HPV vaccine (Models 2–5). An OLS analysis was conducted to examine how the knowledge and the beliefs were related to acceptance of the HPV vaccination (Model 6). To implement vaccination against HPV in the national vaccination program for children would be in line with the Thai Ministry of Public Health’s policies for the population to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases It would be beneficial for the individual as well as for the public health and would decrease the high incidence of cervical cancer, saving lives
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