Knowledge and attitudes towards Human Papillomavirus infection among staff in a public university in Malaysia

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus, is linked to genital warts and cervical cancer. The aim of this research was to determine the level of knowledge and attitudes regarding HPV and their associated factors among staff in a public university. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 450 staff from faculties, institutes, centres and schools in the university and were selected through cluster random sampling from April to June 2014. Data on knowledge, attitude, sociodemographic characteristics and behavioural factors were collected using self-administrated questionnaire. Chi-square test for association between two categorical variables was conducted. Result: The response rate was 75.6%. Majority of the respondents were in the age group of older than 30 years old (72.5%), females (63.3%), Malays (93.9%), married, divorced or widow (82.5%), had tertiary education level (75.1%). Overall the level of good knowledge was 45.8% and the positive attitudes were 44.2%. There were significant associations between level of knowledge on HPV and age (χ2 =8.947, P=0.003), gender (χ2 =20.976, P=0.001) and education level (χ2 =8.794, P=0.003). Whereas level of attitudes towards HPV was significantly associated with gender (χ2 =13.511, P=0.001) and level of knowledge and (χ2 =8.551, P=0.003) Conclusion: Majority of the respondents’ level of knowledge on HPV was poor and had negative attitude toward HPV infection. There is a need for health promotion programme regarding HPV among the population studied.

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