Minority College Students' HPV Knowledge, Awareness, and Vaccination History

Human Papilloma virus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI), and can cause cervical, anal and oropharyngeal cancer. There are several approved vaccinations to protect against HPV infection, a quadrivalent, bivalent, and 9-valent respectively.  It is estimated that 79 million individuals are infected with human papilloma virus (HPV), while 20 million more Americans become infected each year (CDC, 2014 & CDC, 2012). HPV is yearly responsible for 26,000 new cancers (about 17,000 in women and 9,000 in men) yearly (CDC, 2013). Although HPV vaccination is recommended, rates in the United States are not increasing in comparison to other countries. The purpose of this study is to explore HPV knowledge and awareness, sources of information received on HPV, and HPV vaccination rates for ethnically diverse male and female college students ages 18-24. This study is part of a larger study funded by the HIV and Substance Abuse Prevention for Minority Serving Institution’s initiative, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Methods:After IRB approval was received, male and female students were recruited at two sites, a South Florida university and a South Florida state college, from February-August 2014. Inclusion criteria for participants included: ages 18-24, enrolled as a student, and able to speak and read English. After giving verbal consent, the participants completed a self-administered survey. The instrument used was a modified Health Department community health survey, which included demographics, and was adapted to include eight items on awareness and knowledge of HPV, information received on HPV, and history of HPV vaccination.

Results:The sample included 842 students.   Data was entered into a SPSS file for data analysis. Overall, 554 (66%) of the participants were vaccine naïve. 63% of the respondents had received knowledge about HPV from family, internet, news student health centers, or other unspecified sources. The majority of these participants, 54%, felt that they were not at risk for acquiring HPV. Another of the major findings from this study is that 25% of the participants had a false assumption that males are not susceptible to HPV infection.

Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Although HPV vaccination is recommended, little is known about vaccination histories for ethnically diverse college students.  Less is known about HPV knowledge and vaccination rates of young adult men.  This study will add to the growing body of knowledge related to HPV knowledge and vaccination history of minority college-age men and women.