Open AccessPerceptions of nurses on human papillomavirus vaccinations in the Republic of Korea
Author(s) -
Hae Won Kim,
Hyang Yuol Lee,
Seong Eun Kim,
Hye Young Ahn,
Yeon Hee Kim,
Young Jin Lee
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0211475
Subject(s) - vaccination , human papillomavirus , medicine , marital status , demography , cervical cancer , family medicine , immunology , environmental health , cancer , population , sociology
Background In June 2016, the Republic of Korea included free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations for all 12-year-old girls in its national immunization program. Purpose This study investigated perceptions of nurses on HPV vaccination and their intent to vaccinate preteens at the best ages. Methods Recruited for the survey were 514 health teachers (181, 35.2%), public health nurses (168, 32.7%), and clinical nurses (165, 32.1%). Factor-analysis was conducted to validate the Vaccine-Hesitancy Scale for Korean nurses. Related variables associated with vaccine-acceptance were examined using the Kruskal–Wallis test and Spearman’s rho coefficients, due to lack of normalization. Results Factor-analysis results showed that two factors of positive acceptance (7 items) and negative acceptance (3 items) accounted for 67.46% of the total variance, and explained 47.4% and 20.1%, respectively. Nurses who positively accepted HPV vaccine differed significantly in agreement to vaccinate girls or boys. For the proper vaccination age, a significant difference emerged between answers for girls and vaccine-acceptance scores, whereas no difference emerged between answers for boys and the scores. The vaccinated status of respondents significantly related to higher HPV vaccine acceptance, although age, religion, marital status, education, and working duration did not. Conclusions This study showed that vaccine-acceptance levels reflect nurses’ attitudes and opinions about HPV vaccination for girls and boys.