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Aim: This study aims to investigate the areas of concerns that women have regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination., Material and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in a convenience sample of 1450 women attending outpatient family planning clinics in Hong Kong to assess women's concerns regarding HPV vaccination. The associations between each demographic characteristics and the importance of various issues concerning the vaccine, such as short and long-term side-effects, side-effect affecting appearance, number of women who have had it, effectiveness, effect duration and cost were explored using χ(2) tests for comparison of proportions. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis was applied to further identify independent demographic characteristics which were significantly associated with each of these issues., Results: The top three factors that most women felt very important were vaccine effectiveness (45.4%), effect duration (44.0%) and long-term side-effects (43.7%). Education level significantly affected the degree of concerns in these areas (OR=1.15, P<0.001, 1.14, P<0.001 and 1.09, P=0.006, respectively) while income was significantly inversely associated with the importance of cost (OR=0.92, P<0.001) and effectiveness (OR=0.95, P=0.047)., Conclusion: The above issues should be specifically addressed when vaccine information is given, bearing in mind the particular concerns in women with different socio-economic backgrounds., (© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research © 2011 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.)

Objective: To assess knowledge and stigmatizing attitudes related to human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV testing among Chinese healthcare providers in Hong Kong., Methods: Between May and September 2010, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire was sent to 247 doctors, nurses, and smear-taking trainees providing cervical screening in Hong Kong., Results: In total, 137 questionnaires were returned. Most participants had basic knowledge about HPV infection and HPV vaccination. Only about 33% knew that high-risk HPV does not cause genital warts, infection is most common among young women, or infected individuals might not have any identifiable sexual risk factors. Regarding HPV testing, 6 of 7 knowledge items were answered incorrectly by many participants (≥ 50%), highlighting a lack of understanding of the indications for HPV testing and the implications of a positive result. About 30% of participants agreed that individuals with HPV infection were sexually easy, responsible for their infection, or had more than 1 sexual partner. More knowledge about HPV infection predicted less stigmatizing attitudes., Conclusion: Continued education on HPV and HPV testing is needed for frontline healthcare providers of screening in Hong Kong. The stigmatizing attitudes toward HPV-infected individuals warrant further exploration of the impact of HPV infection on patient care and interventions., (Copyright © 2011 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To identify the components of a human papillomavirus (HPV) message contributing to reducing the stigma of HPV in cervical cancer., Methods: 294 ethnic Chinese women attending a community-based clinic in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to read one of three written HPV messages: Group 'lr+hrHPV': low-risk and high-risk HPVs facts, Group 'hrHPV': high-risk HPV facts only and Group 'ds+hrHPV': high-risk HPV facts and de-stigmatising components, namely being anti-stereotypical, motivational and low in complexity. Main outcome measures were high-risk HPV-related sexual stigma, knowledge, attitude towards message, and intention to be HPV-tested measured by self-administered questionnaires immediately before and after reading., Results: Message allocation had a significant effect on sexual stigma (F = 5.219, p = 0.006). Participants who read message ds+hrHPV showed the least stigma, and were significantly less likely to believe that high-risk HPV infection implicated promiscuity, non-monogamy or that monogamy offered complete protection against high-risk HPV. The genital HPV-focused message was more stigmatising than cervical cancer-focused messages. Of all participants, 93% (237/254) and 97% (260/269) indicated a positive intention to be HPV-tested before and after reading, respectively. There were no between-group differences noted in terms of knowledge and intention to be HPV-tested before or after reading., Conclusions: Our findings show that an HPV message containing specific de-stigmatising components may reduce public stigma towards high-risk HPV. Also, focusing solely on high-risk HPV in the context of cervical cancer helps to avoid the stigmatising effect of genital warts from tainting perceptions about high-risk HPV infection., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)