Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Although an effective vaccine for preventing HPV-associated dis-eases has been available for nearly two decades in the United States, uptake among adolescents has lagged behind expectations. This gap in adolescent protection places those entering college at increased risk for developing complications from HPV infection. With catch-up vaccination being recommended for everyone not fully vaccinated through age 26, college students represent an ideal population to target for catch-up vaccination. Despite comprising a significant segment of the undergraduate population in the United States, community college students have been largely overlooked in HPV-related research, which has primarily focused on students attending four-year institutions. This review describes the current literature on HPV-related constructs of knowledge, awareness, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors among community college students in the United States. An initial search identified 3783 articles for review with 14 articles meeting inclusion criteria. A majority of the studies included were cross-sectional surveys comprised of undergraduates attending various types of institutions. Among those fourteen studies, disaggregated outcome data for community college students was identifiable in 57% of the studies. Only five studies focused on community college students. While all included studies examined HPV vaccination behaviors, significant gaps were noted around HPV knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and beliefs. Further, few studies compared HPV-related data from community college students to other types of college students. Need exists to further understand HPV-related information among community college students to increase catch-up vaccinations among this vulnerable population.
Pittman et al. (Sun,) studied this question.