Table 5.
Study’s participants’ attitudes toward HPV infections, related diseases, and prevention statements.
| Attitude Statement | Strongly Agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly Disagree | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| I believe that Papillomavirus (HPV) can cause serious diseases | 380 | 55.88 | 258 | 37.94 | 29 | 4.26 | 8 | 1.17 | 5 | 0.74 |
| I believe that I will be exposed to HPV infection during my life | 77 | 11.32 | 261 | 38.38 | 225 | 33.09 | 89 | 13.09 | 28 | 4.12 |
| I believe anti-HPV vaccines are capable of preventing the occurrence of cervical cancer and genital warts | 338 | 49.70 | 280 | 41.18 | 56 | 8.24 | 6 | 0.88 | − | |
| I believe the anti-HPV vaccination must be mandatory for boys and girls before the sexual debut and for at risk subjects | 332 | 48.82 | 238 | 35.10 | 84 | 12.39 | 16 | 2.36 | 10 | 1.48 |
| I believe my parents’ favorable opinion is essential to decide to get vaccinated against HPV * | 114 | 18.57 | 204 | 33.22 | 169 | 27.52 | 83 | 13.52 | 44 | 7.16 |
| I believe that the favorable opinion of my partner is essential to decide to get vaccinated against HPV | 77 | 11.32 | 194 | 28.53 | 175 | 25.73 | 128 | 18.82 | 106 | 15.59 |
| I believe it is useful to talk to my doctor about HPV infections and other sexually transmitted infections | 243 | 35.73 | 337 | 49.55 | 87 | 12.79 | 8 | 1.18 | 5 | 0.73 |
| I believe it is useful to talk about HPV infections and other sexually transmitted infections at school | 364 | 53.53 | 251 | 36.91 | 58 | 8.53 | 5 | 0.73 | 2 | 0.29 |
| I believe if I have children I get them vaccinated against HPV | 324 | 47.65 | 244 | 35.88 | 102 | 15 | 10 | 1.47 | − | |
| I believe the anti-HPV vaccine is safe | 218 | 32.1 | 302 | 44.41 | 139 | 20.44 | 17 | 2.5 | 4 | 0.59 |
Legend: * N. 66 (9.71%) subjects did not answer. For each attitude statement, the answer is reported. Frequencies and percentages of “strongly agree”, “agree”, “neutral”, “disagree”, “strongly disagree” answers were calculated.