Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes about human papilloma virus and its vaccine levels in health care vocational high school students and healthy group of adolescents who admitted to pediatric outpatient clinics. Material and Methods: This study included 564 adolescents ages between 16-19 years. Health care vocational high school students were the study group; students in other high schools were the control group. A questionnaire was given by the investigators to the participants. Data were analyzed by using SPSS for Windows version 15.0 was used for all data analysis. Results: The study involved 304 health care school students and 260 healthy adolescents (As the control group). The question of “Do you know which disease is caused by HPV?” was answered as “I don’t know” by 74.3% of all adolescents. The 39.8% of the study group gave the right answer and 7.9% gave the wrong answer; all the participants in the control group gave the wrong answer. The question of “Is HPV infection a serious disease?” was answered as “Yes” by 59.9% of the health care school students, however all subjects in the control group stated that they had no information (p<0.001). The question of “Do you wish to be vaccinated against HPV?” was answered as “Yes” by 12.2% and as “No” or “I don’t know” by 87.8% of the control group. Conclusion: In our Country, health care school students have some knowledge about HPV because they are informed about this subject. However, the level of knowledge about HPV in adolescents in other high schools is low. We think that appropriate education programs in high schools about HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases are necessary to increase awareness. © 2016 by Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
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