A Cross-sectional Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Cancer Preventive Vaccines among Undergraduate Medical Students.

Background: In many different contexts, cancer vaccination, either by itself or in conjunction with screening has demonstrated potential in lowering the incidence and cancer-attributed mortality.

Aims: The current study was performed with the objectives to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical students in central India regarding cancer preventive vaccination and to assess the extent of coverage of vaccination and the factors affecting the acceptance of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among medical students.

Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 2 months duration was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital of a university in Central India among 208 undergraduate medical students. Systematic random sampling was used to select the study participants from different professional years. A semi-structured, validated and pilot-tested questionnaire (Google Forms) was used to collect the data. The collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Descriptive analysis was done using mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables, while frequency and percentages were calculated for categorical variables.

Results: The mean age of the students was 19.15 ± 1.14 years, of which 71 (34.1%) were males and 137 (65.9%) were females. It has been reported that 136 (65.3%) were aware of cancer preventive vaccines, while 169 (81.2%) students knew that cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among females in India. Moreover, 144 (69.2%) of the students felt that the person who has received these cancer preventive vaccines can still develop cancer. Most of the students felt that vaccinated individuals could still develop cancer. Reasons for non-acceptance included high cost, fear of complications and uncertainty about vaccine efficacy.

Conclusion: To conclude, medical students did not have sufficient understanding of cancer prevention vaccination in nearly every area. Students rarely get the cancer preventive vaccine and have a reluctant attitude about them. Vaccination coverage is quite low and a variety of reasons, including misunderstandings, have affected medical students' acceptance of the HPV vaccine.