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Knowledge and Attitudes of Physicians and Nurses in Turkey Regarding Human Papillomavirus Vaccination of Their Children

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Abstract

Aim

This study aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of physicians and nurses as parents about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and their views on vaccination in children.

Materials and Methods

This cross-sectional study included 72 physicians and 128 nurses who had children. Data were collected using questionnaires prepared by researchers. Descriptive statistical analysis and chi-square tests were used for data analysis.

Results

In this study, 84.7% of physicians and 70.3% of the nurses knew that HPV is a cancer factor, and two-thirds of the healthcare professionals believed that the HPV vaccine is protective. Moreover, 62.5% of physicians and 74.2% of nurses reported that they did not intend to vaccinate their children. The reasons for vaccination hesitancy of healthcare professionals was believing it was unnecessary, thinking it was expensive, having insufficient knowledge about vaccine, thinking it may have side effects, and not trusting the vaccine. In this sample, 70.8% of physicians and 53.9% of nurses stated that they could have their children vaccinated only if the HPV vaccines were in the national vaccination schedule.

Discussion

Further studies should be conducted to include the HPV vaccine in the childhood national vaccination program to reduce vaccine hesitancy.

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Data Availability

De-identified data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (Filiz Tubaş) upon request.

Code Availability

Not Applicable.

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Funding

The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Of Pediatrics, Erciyes University Faculty Of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey

    Filiz Tubaş

  2. Department of Pediatrics, K?rşehir, K?rşehir Ahi Evran Un?versity Faculty of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey

    Ramazan DULKADİR & Erdal ÜNLÜ

  3. Faculty of Health Science, Yozgat Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey

    Ayşe ŞENER TAPLAK

Authors
  1. Filiz Tubaş
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  2. Ramazan DULKADİR
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  3. Ayşe ŞENER TAPLAK
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  4. Erdal ÜNLÜ
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by RD, and EÜ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by FT and AŞT. All authors FT, RD, AŞT, and EÜ commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Filiz Tubaş.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

Before starting the study, institutional permission and ethics committee approval were obtained (decision number 2020-03/35).

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Not Applicable.

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Tubaş, F., DULKADİR, R., TAPLAK, A.Ş. et al. Knowledge and Attitudes of Physicians and Nurses in Turkey Regarding Human Papillomavirus Vaccination of Their Children. J Community Health 48, 99–103 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-022-01141-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-022-01141-0

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