Abstract:

Aim: Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women worldwide and most of the new cases are reported from underdeveloped regions. Human papilloma virus (HPV) is known to cause cervical cancer. In our study, it was aimed to evaluate the knowledge levels on the HPV, HPV screening tests and HPV vaccine of the preclinical medical students and the other university students. In this way, problems, if any, will be revealed and the groundwork will be prepared for their elimination. Material and Methods: Our descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between February 15 and March 15, 2021 with preclinical medical students and the other university students. A two-stage electronic questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic questions and HPV Knowledge Scale was applied to 303 participants (n=303), who were determined by the convenience sampling method. Results: It was determined that 68.3% of the participants were female (n=207), 31.7% were male (n=96), their mean age was 20.94 ± 1.69 and the average of HPV Knowledge Scale scores was 9.08±8.32. It was observed that 39.6% of the participants (n=20) were pre-clinical medical faculty students, and 60.4% (n=183) were students from other faculties. When HPV Knowledge Scale scores were compared; It was observed that the scores of the pre-clinical medical faculty students among the students studying at faculties outside medicine and health sciences were significantly higher (p<0.001). It was determined that there was no difference between the scale scores in terms of sociodemographic characteristics such as gender and monthly income of the participants (p>0.05). It was found that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in terms of HPV Knowledge Scale scores among the education of the mother and father, knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases, hearing and knowledge of cervical cancer, the place of residence during the education period, the region where he spent the longest part of his life, and the regions where his faculty is located. Conclusion: In our study, it was determined that there were differences between the knowledge levels of the students on HPV, and it was concluded that studies should be carried out to increase the knowledge level as an important component of health literacy.

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