Abstract:

Cervical cancer is one of the common cancers among women worldwide. Despite HPV vaccination being one of the effective preventive measures, it is still not in government vaccination programs. This study aimed to assess the perspectives on HPV vaccine among parents or guardians attending hospital clinics in Trinidad.

Method: This was a cross-sectional survey among 244 parent/guardian attending pediatric clinics in Trinidad. Majority of participants were females with 54.9% and most (63.9%) of participants were in <11 age group (p<0.05). Although 40.2% parents knew of cervical cancer (p<0.05), only 28.3% were sure about correct use of the vaccine (p<0.05). A majority of 94.7% had never vaccinated themselves against cervical cancer. Only 3.3% had vaccinated the child accompanying them and 2.5% had vaccinated their other children. Mean perception score (±SD) of the study population was 5.1 (39.3% ±16.5). Majority (62.6%) of the participants scored above mean score. Individual scores for knowledge and practices showed total knowledge score ±SD of 3.4±1.7 (p<0.05) and total practice score of 1.8±0.9 (p<0.05).

Conclusion: This study highlights the limitations among selected Trinidadian parents with respect to HPV and its implication in cervical cancer. Public education on cervical cancer needs to be well addressed into the community for more acceptances of HPV vaccine and cervical cancer prevention.

Keywords: Cervical cancer, Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, pediatric clinic

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