Parents and/or young males’ beliefs, attitudes and opinions regarding male HPV Vaccine: a systematic review

Objectives: To measure the acceptability, beliefs and attitudes on the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescents and their parents. Methods: Relevant questionnaire-based articles, published in peer-reviewed journals, were retrieved from Medline (through Pubmed and EBSCO) and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. The quality of shortlisted articles was assessed using the CEBMa checklist. Data were extracted and systematically reviewed. Results: Twelve studies (6529 survey participants) were included in the final analysis. The quality of included studies was high (most of the parameters were satisfied according to the CEBMa tool). Of the participants, 187 (2.86 %) were adolescent males, and the rest 6342 (97.14%) were parents of adolescent males. The knowledge of disease severity and benefits of vaccination was low among parents in all studies. The willingness to vaccinate adolescent males was higher among highly educated parents, those with a previously HPV vaccinated female children, and those with a history of recommendation from a physician. Conclusion: A significant gap between actual vaccine uptake and willingness to vaccinate male children was noted in all included studies, mostly due to lack of recommendation by the treating physician. The primary motive to vaccinate sons was the understanding of vaccine benefits and willingness to protect the future partners