OBJECTIVES: Vaccines have been available in Hungary since 2014, as part of cervical cancer prevention for seventh grade girl students, and as of 2020, for boys as well. Our study assessed the knowledge and attitude towards human papillomavirus (HPV) and its vaccine.

METHODS: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted during the summer of 2021. Through non-probability convenient sampling method, we selected mothers of 3-13 years old children within the health visitor district of Bóly, Hungary. We excluded those who cannot speak Hungarian, write, or read, who do not raise their child(ren) at their own household and those who completed less than 70% of our questionnaire. Our self-administered questionnaire consisted of questions about socio-demographic factors, knowledge about HPV and attitude towards its vaccine. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Fisher’s exact test) were calculated with SPSS and Excel programmes (p<0.05).

RESULTS: Based on 109 filled-out questionnaires, mean age of respondents was 37.4 years, 42% of them (n=46) raise boys, 58% (n=63) have girls. 46% (n=50) have higher educational attachment (college, university), 80% (n=87) are married or have a civil partner. 70% (n=76) knew that HPV is a venereal disease, 31% (n=34) are familiar with the most efficient contraception method. 59% of the participants (n=64) require a vaccine against HPV for their child. The most common reason for declining the vaccine is the potential development of autoimmune diseases (53%; n=24). A significant connection exists between sexes and the attitude towards vaccines (p<0.01). There is also a significant correlation among attitude, the health visitor’s work, and media (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: It is a possible solution for nurses to disseminate up-to-date information, to organize health education programs, and to use the Internet in a positive way, to increase the knowledge of the population.