Conhecimento sobre o papilomavírus humano e o comportamento sexual dos universitários de enfermagem e medicina no município de Coari, Amazonas

Abstract

The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is an infectious virus that causes benign and malignant lesions. Its high prevalence among young people in developing countries is related to unprotected sexual practices, and possibly the lack of knowledge about HPV and its associated diseases, which can lead to a low level of self-care regarding this infection. This study aims to describe the knowledge about HPV and sexual behavior of undergraduate students of the Nursing and Medicine courses of the Institute of Health and Biotechnology (ISB) of the Federal University of Amazonas in the municipality of Coari, Amazonas, Brazil. This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach, carried out with 96 undergraduate students of the ISB. A standard form (Googleforms) was used with questions regarding demographic variables, socioeconomic, sexual behavior and knowledge about HPV. Data collection occurred between August and October 2022. The collected data were allocated in a Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet and for statistical analysis the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 22) program was used. Results showed that college students (n=96), had a mean age of 24 years (SD=4), n=68 (71%) were mixed race, n=78 (81%) declared to be single, most n=76 (79%) had low family income (up to R$2424.00). Regarding sexual behavior, n=71 (74%) said they were heterosexual, n=88 (92%) had already had sexual intercourse, with a mean age of first intercourse at 17 years old (SD=2). Regarding condom use, only n=23 (26%) always used with steady partners and n=29 (33%) always used with casual partners. The clinical history about sexually transmitted infections (STI) revealed that n=9 (9%) of the participants had already had some treatment for STI. About the academics' knowledge about HPV, the results showed that n=83 (86%) had already heard about and knew the content, however, there are gaps in this knowledge related to the virus transmission modes and symptoms. As for the vaccine, n=92 (96%) had heard about it. Most of the participants, n=91 (95%), reported that they would like to receive more information about the subject in the universities, however, they mention that the dissemination of information is scarce in the institutions. Therefore, this study showed that the knowledge about HPV of college students was satisfactory, but still not enough for them to maintain safe sex practices, being prone to sexually transmitted infections and among them exposure to HPV.