Effectiveness of a pre-test/post-test model in HPV health education among undergraduate medical students.

Background: The HPV vaccination rate of Chinese college students remains low. Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide health education regarding HPV vaccination among college students in China. We used a pre-test/post-test model to implement a health education intervention for the HPV vaccine among undergraduate medical students and subsequently evaluated its effectiveness.

Methods: A total of 180 undergraduate medical students who were attending classes at the gynaecological department of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from October 2022 to March 2023 were selected for inclusion in the study. Before class, all students completed a questionnaire and a pre-class quiz to obtain key points in the course. The class regarding HPV and the HPV vaccine was taught by senior teachers. After the course, all students completed a post-class quiz consisting of the same questions as the pre-class quiz. The pre-class and post-class scores were compared to evaluate the effectiveness of this teaching model.

Results: After the HPV health education intervention in the pre-test/post-test model, the post-class scores were significantly higher than the pre-class scores for different gender, years of study, clinical majors, different willingness of vaccine to receive the vaccine(p < 0.05).

Conclusion: A pre-test/post-test model may be an effective approach for HPV health education interventions.