{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T05:46:00Z","timestamp":1785735960709,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Cervical cancer is largely preventable through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, screening, and timely treatment; however, adolescent HPV literacy remains inconsistent. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have different publicly documented HPV-vaccination and cervical-screening contexts. This study explored HPV and cervical cancer prevention awareness, selected Health Belief Model-informed beliefs, vaccination willingness, and vaccine-related perceptions among middle-school girls in these countries.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>An exploratory online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 300 students, with equal quota-like groups of 100 per country recruited through non-probability snowball sampling. Analyses were primarily descriptive; one complete-case exploratory logistic model examined factors associated with willingness to accept free HPV vaccination.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Overall, 89\/300 participants (29.7%) had heard of HPV, 103\/300 (34.3%) had heard of cervical cancer, and 49\/300 (16.3%) were aware of cervical screening. School nurses were the most frequently reported HPV information source among source-item respondents (47\/90; 52.2%). HPV-vaccine awareness was reported by 131\/298 participants (44.0%), previous vaccination by 106\/300 (35.3%), and willingness to accept free vaccination by 197\/300 (65.7%). Responses to five negatively worded vaccine-perception items were predominantly neutral or reflected disagreement rather than consistent endorsement of distrust. The exploratory model generated several inverse associations with willingness, but these estimates are sample-specific and hypothesis-generating.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Prevention awareness was limited despite relatively high stated willingness to accept free vaccination. The findings support culturally adapted, school-linked education and representative studies using validated measures, parent-linked information, and verified vaccination records.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1902409","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T05:30:40Z","timestamp":1785735040000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["HPV prevention awareness, vaccination willingness, and vaccine-related perceptions among middle-school girls in three Arab countries: an exploratory online survey"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Fatma Magdi","family":"Ibrahim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"RAK College of Nursing, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University","place":["Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates"]},{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, New Mansoura University","place":["Mansoura, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ateya Megahed","family":"Ibrahim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nursing College, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University","place":["Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, Port Said University","place":["Port Said, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eman Abdelaziz Rashad","family":"Dabou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"RAK College of Nursing, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University","place":["Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates"]},{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University","place":["Alexandria, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soad Abd","family":"Elhameed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, New Mansoura University","place":["Mansoura, Egypt"]},{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University","place":["Mansoura, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Victoria","family":"Hanson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"RAK College of Nursing, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University","place":["Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref3","first-page":"645","article-title":"Human papillomavirus vaccines: WHO position paper, December 2022","volume":"97","year":"2022","journal-title":"Wkly Epidemiol Rec"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"675","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ygyno.2021.12.021","article-title":"Improving knowledge, attitudes, and uptake of cervical cancer prevention among female students: a systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based health education","volume":"164","author":"Ampofo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Gynecol Oncol"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2224","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vaccine.2023.02.063","article-title":"Knowledge, attitudes and acceptance toward human papillomavirus vaccination: perspectives of Muslim women and men","volume":"41","author":"Al Alawi","year":"2023","journal-title":"Vaccine"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2316","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-024-19792-0","article-title":"HPV infection and vaccination: a cross-sectional study of knowledge, perception, and attitude to vaccine uptake among university students in Qatar","volume":"24","author":"Cheema","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1432","DOI":"10.3390\/vaccines9121432","article-title":"Attitude towards HPV vaccination and the intention to get vaccinated among female university students in health schools in Jordan","volume":"9","author":"Sallam","year":"2021","journal-title":"Vaccines (Basel)"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2036522","DOI":"10.1080\/21645515.2022.2036522","article-title":"Knowledge and attitude about human papillomavirus vaccine among female high school students at Jimma town, Ethiopia","volume":"18","author":"Biyazin","year":"2022","journal-title":"Hum Vaccin Immunother"},{"key":"ref9","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref10","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref11","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1177\/109019817400200403","article-title":"Historical origins of the health belief model","volume":"2","author":"Rosenstock","year":"1974","journal-title":"Health Educ Monogr"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1177\/109019818401100101","article-title":"The health belief model: a decade later","volume":"11","author":"Janz","year":"1984","journal-title":"Health Educ 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parents toward HPV vaccine administration to their children in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study","volume":"13","author":"Bakhashab","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e64957","DOI":"10.7759\/cureus.64957","article-title":"The impact of an educational program on the awareness and knowledge of human papilloma virus vaccine among secondary school girls in Saudi Arabia","volume":"16","author":"Almatrafi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Cureus"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1902409\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T05:30:41Z","timestamp":1785735041000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1902409\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"references-count":18,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1902409"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1902409","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"article-number":"1902409"}}