Introduction:

Human papillomavirus vaccination coverage has not been achieved in the general population. There are factors that interfere with the acceptance of the vaccine by the parents of adolescent girls.

Objective:

To correlate knowledge of human papillomavirus, knowledge of the vaccine against the virus, and beliefs about the vaccine with vaccine acceptance among parents of adolescent girls aged 9-12 years in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Materials and Methods:

A descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study was conducted with a census sample of 145 parents of girls between the ages of 9 and 12 enrolled in three public elementary schools in an urban area of Chihuahua, Mexico.

Results:

Knowledge of human papillomavirus was related to vaccine acceptance (p < 0.009), as was knowledge of the human papillomavirus vaccine (p < 0.030). In contrast, beliefs about HPV and the vaccine were not related (p < 0.747).

Discussion:

The results are consistent with previous literature in that knowledge of the virus and its vaccine is low, but the scores were lower in this study. In contrast, HPV vaccine acceptance tends to be high, as in previous studies.

Conclusions:

Knowledge about human papillomavirus and the vaccine was associated with parental acceptance of giving it to their daughters.

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