Knowledge and awareness of HPV vaccination among pharmacy students in UiTM Puncak Alam / Nur Nazihah Nawi

Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the common cause of cervical cancer. This is one of the sexually transmitted infections. HPV vaccines are already available which can be administered as prevention towards cervical cancer. The purpose of this study is to assess undergraduate pharmacy student in UiTM Puncak Alam on their knowledge towards HPV vaccination and to determine the association of independent variables with the knowledge and awareness towards HPV vaccination. A cross sectional study by using convenience sampling was conducted among undergraduate's students from Faculty of Pharmacy. The response rate was 82% which means out of 300 questionnaires being distributed, 246 were returned. The questionnaire used for this study was adapted from Camille C Ragin et al. (2009), Guducu et al. (2012), Raika Durusoy et al. (2010) and Kristen L.O'Flarity (2012). This questionnaire consists of 25 items from three sections; section A for demographic profile, section B for knowledge on HPV vaccination and section C for awareness of HPV vaccination. The data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19 and the Microsoft Excel. Chi-Square test was used to determine the significant association between the tested parameters with p value less than 0.05. Some of the items in questionnaire were significantly associated with demographic profiles' items which include gender, age, cGP A, year of study and marital status. The p value was less than 0.05. Their overall score on knowledge of HPV vaccination was 6, classified as having moderate level of knowledge.