HPV Vaccination Attitudes and Behaviors among General Practitioners in Italy
Open Access
- 19 January 2021
- Vol. 9 (1), 63
- https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9010063
Abstract
This cross-sectional electronic online or telephone survey assessed the attitudes and behaviors regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and the effect of different factors among a nationally representative random sample of 349 general practitioners (GPs) in Italy. A semi-structured interview was performed between September 2018 and October 2020. Almost all respondents considered the HPV vaccine safe with an overall mean value of 8.8, on a scale ranging from 1 to 10, and 59.9% and 32.6% believed that the vaccination was very effective in preventing the related diseases among 12–26 years’ girls and boys. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that GPs who had received information about HPV vaccination from scientific journals were more likely to have positive attitude towards the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing HPV-related diseases in girls between 12–26 years. A large majority (81.5%) of GPs who provided assistance to girls’ patients aged 11–12 years often or always recommend the HPV vaccine to them, and this behavior was more likely to occur in those who believed that the vaccine was very effective in preventing HPV-related diseases in girls between 12–26 years. GPs were more likely to often or always recommend the HPV vaccine to boys aged 11–12 years if they often or always recommended the vaccine to girls aged 11–12 years, if they believed that the vaccine was very effective in preventing HPV-related diseases in boys between 12–26 years, and if they considered the HPV vaccine very safe. GPs should receive information about the HPV immunization to ensure that they routinely communicate with their patient population in order to achieve better coverage rates.This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- HPV vaccine hesitancy among parents in Italy: a cross-sectional studyHuman Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 2020
- HPV Vaccination and the Risk of Invasive Cervical CancerThe New England Journal of Medicine, 2020
- Prevalence of High-risk Nonavalent Vaccine-type Human Papillomavirus Infection Among Unvaccinated, Sexually Active Asian Female Adolescents With and Without Perinatally Acquired HIV InfectionThe Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 2020
- Healthcare Workers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Vaccinations: A Cross-Sectional Study in ItalyVaccines, 2020
- Investigating knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding vaccinations of community pharmacists in ItalyHuman Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 2020
- Confidence in the National Immunization Program among parents in Sweden 2016 – A cross-sectional surveyVaccine, 2020
- HPV Vaccine Delivery Practices by Primary Care PhysiciansPEDIATRICS, 2019
- Prevalence of cervical disease at age 20 after immunisation with bivalent HPV vaccine at age 12-13 in Scotland: retrospective population studyBMJ, 2019
- Reasons for Lack of HPV Vaccine Initiation in NIS-Teen Over Time: Shifting the Focus From Gender and Sexuality to Necessity and SafetyJournal of Adolescent Health, 2018
- Human Papillomavirus Infection: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors among Lesbian, Gay Men, and Bisexual in ItalyPLOS ONE, 2012