Effect of Education on Awareness, Knowledge, and Willingness to Be Vaccinated in Females of Western India
Abstract
Cervical Cancer is the second most leading cause of death among Indian women. Infection by human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the major causes of cervical cancer. Two prophylactic HPV vaccines approved and recommended for adolescents and young women in India. However, due to lack of appropriate knowledge, education, resources, and proper communication, these tools have little impact on disease burden. It is important to understand attitude, knowledge, and beliefs of females about HPV, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccine. Hence, the present study aimed to check awareness, educate females about cervical cancer and HPV vaccine, and evaluate the major hurdles in acceptability of HPV vaccine. Total 693 females of age 16 to 40 years of diverse background were enrolled in the study. Questionnaires were prepared to assess knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV vaccine before and after education and impact of knowledge on willingness to administer the vaccine. Education was given with the help of concern physicians. Final follow-up was done after 1 month to assess the attitude towards vaccination. The overall awareness before education was found to be 20.63%; maximum in females of medical (51.37%), and paramedical background (33.33%). Improvement after education was observed in terms of improved information about etiology, symptoms, precautions, and vaccination for cervical cancer. Acceptability of HPV vaccine was found to be poor (40.11% refused to undergo vaccination and 32.17% were…
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Knowledge is likely even poorer amongst less educated women and women from rural areas.
“Knowledge is likely even poorer amongst less educated women and women from rural areas [22–25].”
From Acceptability of HPV vaccination for cervical cancer prevention amongst emerging adult women in rural Mysore, India: a mixed-methods study (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
Both Jacob et al and Joshi et al demonstrated notable improvements in awareness scores, with post-intervention knowledge gains exceeding 50 per cent in some groups.
“Both studies demonstrated notable improvements in awareness scores, with post-intervention knowledge gains exceeding 50 per cent in some groups.”
From Barriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as [32]
Community-level factors, including stigma, cultural norms, and religious beliefs, often reinforced vaccine hesitancy, though engagement with local leaders and culturally tailored interventions showed promise.
“Community-level factors, including stigma, cultural norms, and religious beliefs, often reinforced vaccine hesitancy, though engagement with local leaders and culturally tailored interventions showed promise 28,30,34,36.”
From Barriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
Girls from urban and higher socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to have heard of HPV and the vaccine, whereas those from rural or tribal areas had lower awareness and greater scepticism.
“Girls from urban and higher socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to have heard of HPV and the vaccine, whereas those from rural or tribal areas were found to have lower awareness and greater scepticism31,32,36.”
From Barriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as [32]
Despite educational interventions, a subset of participants remained hesitant, often citing concerns about vaccine cost, availability, or insufficient information from healthcare providers.
“Despite this, a subset of participants remained hesitant, often citing concerns about vaccine cost, availability, or insufficient information from healthcare providers31,32,38,43.”
From Barriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as [32]
Demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational level, place of residence, socioeconomic status, and religion were found to influence both HPV awareness and vaccine acceptance.
“Demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational level, place of residence, socioeconomic status, and religion were found to influence both HPV awareness and vaccine acceptance18,27,28,30,36.”
From Barriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
Education-led interventions increase intent to vaccinate, but hesitancy remains.
“Although awareness using education-led interventions showed promise in increasing intent to vaccinate, there existed a hesitancy13,32,33.”
From Barriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as [32]
Cited by
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Coursey, K., Muralidhar, K., Srinivas, V., Jaykrishna, P., Begum, F., Ningaiah, N., Lee, S.-J., & Madhivanan, P. (2024) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-024-19485-8 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Knowledge is likely even poorer amongst less educated women and women from rural areas [22–25].”
BackgroundResultBarriers to HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in India: A scoping review
Josten, K., Rose Dhar, R., Reshmi, B., Natti Krishna, V., & Vennila, J. (2026) · The Indian Journal of Medical Research · doi:10.25259/ijmr_1834_2025 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“However, Joshi et al 32 reported that providers were often ignored in rural and semi-urban regions, either due to lack of training, time constraints, or due to communication gaps.”
Influential
- Authors
- Joshi, S. V., Chaudhari, H. R., & Chaudhari, N. A.
- Affiliations
- Uka Tarsadia University (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Joshi, Shrikant V.
- ORCID
- Joshi, Shrikant V.
- Venue
- Journal of Cancer Education
- Published
- 2018-11-21
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 61-68
- ISSN
- 0885-8195 (ISSN-L)
- 1543-0154
- OpenAlex
- W2901324995
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 0.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Cancer Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Women's cancer prevention and management
- Keywords
- HPV vaccine, cervical cancer, vaccine acceptance, health education, knowledge and awareness, vaccine willingness, religious beliefs, vaccine cost, young women, physician counseling, Western India
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Education, Humans, India, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Surveys and Questionnaires, Vaccination, Papillomaviridae, Papillomavirus Infections, Papillomavirus Vaccines, Young Adult
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