Determination of The Level of Knowledge About Hpv Among Adolescents and Improvement of Vaccinationapproval Through Health Education In The Area of Trikala, Central Greece

Abstract Background: The aim of this study is to assess the importance of the role of the Health Education among young adolescents, regarding the level of knowledge about the HPV and the acceptance of the HPV vaccination, in order to increase the vaccination coverage, both in young adolescents and young teenagers in the area of Trikala, in Central Greece.Methods: The methodological tools of the study were questionnaires. The completion of the questionnaires was gained after the informed and written consent of the parents – guardians. Ethical approval was obtained of the Ministry of Education, Research and Religions. Students of the 1st Gymnasium, randomly chosen by drawing among all school groups of the area. In the first phase of the study, the questionnaires were completed by the entire study population. During the second and third phases, the completion of the questionnaires concerned the population under study, immediately after the interactive seminar and three months later, respectively. The IBM SPSS 20.0 statistical program was used for analyzing the data and extracting the results.Results: A total of 434 female students, who met the criteria for participation in the study, completed the questionnaire (response rate 76.26%). Most participants (66.6%) were girls. From the final analysis of the results we observed a rapid change in the level of awareness about the HPV virus, between the three phases of the study. The percentage of the participants who stated that they "do not know" what HPV is, decreased from 44.4%, before the informative interactive intervention in students (first phase), to1.6% and 8.1%immediately after the intervention (second phase) and 3 months later (third phase), respectively. Similarly, the willingness of young students to be vaccinated against the HPV was increased from 71% during the first phase of the study, to 89.1% and 83.5% after the second and third phases, respectively.Conclusion: Young teens are poorly informed about the HPV and HPV vaccination. However, with the use of targeted interactive informational interventions in the school environment, a statistically significant increase in both the level of knowledge about the HPV and the infection caused by it, is recorded, as well as in the willingness of young adolescent students to be vaccinated against the cervical cancer.