Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices regarding Cancer Preventive Vaccines among Medical Students in Central India: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: In many different contexts, cancer vaccination, either by itself or in conjunction with screening, has demonstrated potential in lowering the incidence and cancer-attributed mortality. The cancer vaccines are not widely used in many poor nations, including India, despite its demonstrated efficacy and potential for major beneficial community impact. Objectives: The current study will be performed with the objectives to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical students in central India regarding cancer preventive vaccination and to assess the extent of coverage of vaccination and the factors affecting the acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccine among medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study of three months duration will be conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital of a university in Central India among 208 undergraduate medical students. Systematic random sampling will be used to select the study participants from different professional years. A semi-structured, validated, and pilot-tested questionnaire that will be developed into a Google Form will be used to collect the data. Institutional ethical committee clearance will be obtained prior to initiation of the study. The collected data will be analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Descriptive analysis will be done using mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables, while frequency and percentages will be calculated for categorical variables. Results: Mean age of students, difference in perception according to gender, knowledge regarding various aspects of cancer prevalence, occurrence, and prevention will be assessed. Attitude and actual practice regarding cancer preventive vaccine will be evaluated. The reasons for low uptake of cancer vaccines will be summarized. Conclusion: The knowledge-attitude-practice gap will help to highlight the need to vaccinate healthcare providers as well as their ability to dissipate knowledge to their patients in future.