Attitude, Perception and Practice Towards Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Among Nurses in the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Human Papilloma Virus vaccination is an effective primary prevention to reduce the risk of HPV transmission which could prevent 70% of cervical cancer in women. For positive achievement of Sustainable Developmental Goal three by UNDP in prevention of maternal mortality and morbidity, nurses play a significant role in dissemination of health information to the general public. However, attitude, perception and practice towards HPV vaccination among nurses have not been satisfactorily investigated. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the attitude, perception and practice towards HPV vaccination among nurses in Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was employed using a multistage-stage sampling technique to select 235 participants from eight (8) Departments. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire which included questions on socio-demographic, attitude, perception and practice scales respectively. On questions on perceived factors influencing nurses’ practice towards HPV, attitude score of < 3 and ≥3 were classified as bad and good respectively, perception score of < 3 and ≥3 were grouped into bad and good, while practice relating to HPV vaccination score of > 2 and ≥ 2 were divided as bad and good, respectively. Ethical clearance to conduct the study was obtained from Babcock University Ethical Review Committee. Approval to conduct the study was sought from the Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta Ethical Review Committee and informed consent was obtained from participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test at p= 0.05. Respondents’ age was 31-50years (70.2%). Few (12.8%) of the respondents had ever received HPV vaccine. Many (63.4%) were concerned about its reliability and majority (73.2%) had the belief that there is need for more information on efficacy of HPV vaccine and. Socio economic demographic such as years of experience, ward/ clinic and history of STI were significantly associated with uptake of HPV vaccination. There is a gap in utilization of HPV vaccine, need for information update on efficacy and reliability of HPV vaccine. It is therefore recommended that Nigerian Government should include HPV vaccine as part of free services in Maternal and Child Health care, also the nurses be further educated on the health benefits and reliability of Human papillomavirus vaccine to promote its uptake