Abstract:
Introduction: human papilloma virus (HPV) which is
preventable is the main cause of cervical cancer and
it targets mostly young adolescents. The study was
to determine the practice desire, attitude and
knowledge of mothers of adolescent girls on HPV
vaccination in Western Kenya. Methods: this was a
descriptive cross-sectional study design. Data was
obtained using semi-structured questionnaires and
analyzed using both descriptive and inferential
statistics at 95% confidence level using the SPSS
software version 22. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was
considered statistically significant. Results: ninety
five percent of the mothers had intentions to
Article
Hillary Mabeya et al. PAMJ - 38(126). 04 Feb 2021. - Page numbers not for citation purposes. 2
vaccinate their daughters and also had a positive
attitude and their response to HPV vaccination was
significantly lower than those without intentions
p=0.02, 95% CI, OR=0.48 (0.90-0.89). Vaccination
against HPV was low at 9.4% with a mean age of 34
years. Our results found a high level of cervical
cancer awareness (85.0%), HPV and vaccine
awareness respectively (62.0%, and 64.0%).
“Vaccination of my daughters will prompt early
sexual activity and the cost of HPV vaccination
being a barrier to vaccination” had a statistically
significant influence on the practice of vaccination.
Negative attitude to daughters´ early onset of
sexual activity significantly reduced up take while
positive attitude to cost of HPV vaccine significantly
increased up take of HPV vaccination with p value
of 0.007 and 0.04 respectively. Conclusion:
awareness of HPV and HPV vaccine prevention is
low among mothers of adolescent girls in Western
Kenya. There was a positive attitude and high desire
towards the use of HPV vaccination therefore a
need for awareness, policy and unify efforts to
reduce cervical cancer burden.
