Nursing students’ awareness and knowledge about the human papillomaviruses

Uvod: Dandanes imajo ljudje do 50 % možnosti, da se bodo skozi življenje okužili s spolno prenosljivimi okužbami, med katerimi je vse več okužb s humanimi papilomavirusi. Število okuženih narašča, posledica okužbe pa je lahko tudi diagnosticiran rak, ki bi lahko bil preprečen s cepivom. Namen: Namen diplomskega dela je ugotoviti osveščenost in znanje študentov zdravstvene nege Zdravstvene fakultete o humanih papilomavirusih. Metode dela: Presečna raziskava je temeljila na anonimnem anketnem vprašalniku, katerega je izpolnilo 175 študentov. Izračunana je bila zanesljivost na podlagi koeficienta Cronbach alfa (0,614), deskriptivna statistika, t-test za ugotavljanje razlik glede na spol ter koeficient kontingence za ugotavljanje razlik v spremenljivkah glede na ostale socialno demografske podatke. Za analizo smo uporabili statistični program SPSS v. 23 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA). Rezultati: Ugotovitve raziskave kažejo, da se študentje delno ne strinjajo, da so humani papilomavirusi močan dejavnik tveganja za nastanek raka glave in vratu (M = 3,00) ter da je kajenje močan dejavnik tveganja pri okužbi s humanimi papilomavirusi (M = 3,21). Glede na spol se študentke statistično značilno delno strinjajo, da se lahko s humanimi papilomavirusi okužijo tudi moški (p = 0,012). Študentje se delno strinjajo s trditvijo, da o cepivu in cepljenju proti humanim papilomavirusom ne vedo dovolj (M = 1,75). Študentje tretjega letnika se statistično značilno popolnoma strinjajo, da se proti humanim papilomavirusom lahko cepijo tudi moški (p = 0,001). Študentje se delno strinjajo, da zdravstveni delavci premalo ozaveščajo mlado populacijo o okužbi s humanimi papilomavirusi in dejavnikih tveganja (M = 1,57), študentje, starejši od 27. leta starosti, se statistično značilno sploh ne strinjajo, da so bili o zaščiti pred okužbami s humanimi papilomavirusi poučeni na sistematskih pregledih (p = 0,000). Razprava in zaključek: Da bi preprečili povečanje števila zbolelih za rakom, ki jih povzroča okužba s humanimi papilomavirusi, potrebujemo primerno zdravstveno vzgojo, dobro osveščeno in precepljeno populacijo, s katero bi posledično začeli zmanjševati obremenjenost z rakotvornimi spremembami, ki so vse pogostejše. Da bomo pri preventivnem osveščanju uspešni, moramo imeti izobražene zdravstvene delavce, ki bodo tovrstno problematiko dobro poznali in bodo pripravljeni na zdravstveno vzgojo naslednjih generacij.Introduction: Today people have up to a 50% chance to get infected with sexually transmitted diseases during their lifetime, among which the infections with the human papillomaviruses are on the rise. The number of infected people is growing, and the consequence of the infection can also be a cancer diagnosis, which could be prevented with vaccine. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma thesis is to determine the level of awareness and knowledge of the nursing students of the Faculty of Health Sciences about the human papillomaviruses. Methods: The cross sectional study was based on an anonymous survey questionnaire, which was filled out by 175 students. Reliability was calculated based on the Cronbach alpha coefficient (0.614), descriptive statistics, the t-test used for determining the differences based on gender, and the contingency coefficient used for determining the differences in the variables, based on other social demographic information. We used the statistical program SPSS v. 23 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA) for the analysis. Results: The findings show that the students partly disagree on the human papillomaviruses being a strong risk factor for the emergence of head and neck cancer (M = 3.00) and that smoking is a strong risk factor for the infection with the human papillomaviruses (M = 3.21). Based on gender, the female students statistically typically partly agree that men can infect with the human papillomaviruses as well (p = 0.012). The students partly agree with the claim that they do not know enough about the vaccine and the vaccination against the human papillomavirus (M = 1.75). Third year student statistically completely agree that men can vaccinate themselves against the human papillomaviruses as well (p = 0.001). The students partly agree that the healthcare workers do not make the young population aware enough about the infections with the human papillomaviruses and the risk factors (M = 1.57), students older than 27, on the other hand, statistically typically completely disagree on whether or not they were thought about protection against the infections with the human papillomaviruses at their annual medical check-up (p = 0.000). Discussion and conclusion: In order to prevent the growing number of people getting cancer caused by the human papillomaviruses, we need proper medical education, a well-aware and vaccinated population, with which we could begin to decrease the strain of cancerous changes which are more and more frequent. In order to be successful at raising preventive awareness, we must have educated healthcare workers that will be well aware of this problem and prepared for the medical education of future generations