The purpose of this study was to determine the HPV knowledge of college women and their intentions to receive the HPV vaccination.An original data collection instrument was created. This instrument consisted of nine HPV knowledge questions, one intention to receive the vaccine stage question, and three demographic questions. Data were collected during Fall semester of 2007. The participants of this study were females (n=361) who were enrolled in an introductory personal health course. There was a statistically significant difference in intentions to receive the vaccine stage and HPV knowledge level. Those females who had higher mean knowledge scores were more likely to have made a decision about receiving the vaccine or they are still trying to decide. Those females who had lower mean knowledge scores were more likely to be unaware of the vaccine or have not thought about receiving the vaccine. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Many human papilloma virus (HPV) types are sexually transmitted and HPV DNA types 16, 18, 31, and 45 account for more than 75% if all cervical dysplasia. Candidate vaccines are successfully completing US Federal Drug Agency (FDA) phase III testing and several drug companies are in licensing arbitration. Once this vaccine become available it is unlikely that 100% vaccination coverage will be probable; hence, the need for vaccination strategies that will have the greatest reduction on the endemic prevalence of HPV. This thesis introduces two discrete-time models for evaluating the effect of demographic-biased vaccination strategies: one model incorporates temporal demographics (i.e., age) in population compartments; the other non-temporal demographics (i.e., race, ethnicity). Also presented is an intuitive Web-based interface that was developed to allow the user to evaluate the effects on prevalence of a demographic-biased intervention by tailoring the model parameters to specific demographics and geographical region.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / The South African government provides human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to public school girls for free. The study aimed to investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices towards HPV vaccination, of caregivers of girls aged ≥9 years in grade 4 to 7 attending private schools in South Africa. Objectives included determining levels of knowledge; describing attitudes; describing practices; and investigating levels of knowledge and attitudes of caregivers associated with HPV vaccination coverage in these girls. Turfloop Research Ethics Committee granted ethical clearance. A link to an online survey (Survey Monkey®, USA) was circulated to caregivers via an email to school principals and a Facebook advert. Epi InfoTM was used for data analysis. While 76.5% of caregivers had good knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV vaccination, 45.3% had positive attitudes towards HPV vaccination and 19.4% of the girls were vaccinated. Caregivers with good knowledge were 3.6 (95% CI: 1.6-8.0; p<0.005) times more likely to have vaccinated their daughters/wards, while caregivers with a positive attitude were 5.2 (95% CI: 2.9-9.2; p<0.05) times more likely. The low HPV vaccination uptake is concerning. Results suggest that a positive attitude towards HPV vaccination is a strong predictor of its uptake. / University of Limpopo, Anova Health Institute and National Research Foundation (NRF)

The aim of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the girl children’s parents perceptions regarding the papillomavirus vaccine roll-out programme at schools in Tshwane District, Gauteng Province. The researcher used a qualitative exploratory research design to address the research objective of the study as the qualitative method enables the researcher to explore and describe the study phenomenon. Data were collected from 12 parents of girl children who received the papillomavirus vaccine at one of the schools in Soshanguve township, which is one of the biggest townships in the Tshwane District. Data was analysed manually using content analysis. The following four superordinate themes emerged from data analysis: a) Communication of the programme, b) Motivation for allowing their children to be immunized. c) Response to immunisation, d) Suggested ways of enhancing the programme. These themes were discussed in relation to existing literature. Recommendations were made based on the findings to enhance the papillomavirus vaccination programme and for future research. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)