scholarly journals A study of knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among adolescent school girls in rural and urban field practice area of RajaRajeswari Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore, India

Author(s):  
Kanchanaganga Hassan Kailasraj ◽  
Vidya Basavaraju ◽  
Jayanth Kumar ◽  
Shashikala Manjunatha

Background: The word adolescent is derived from Latin word adolescence which means to grow into maturity. Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood. WHO has defined adolescence as the age group 10-19 years. These are formative years when maximum amount of physical, psychological, developmental and behavioral changes take place. In India adolescent girls accounts for a little more than one- fifth of the population. The onset on menstruation is one of the most important changes occurring among the girls during the adolescent years. The event of menarche may be associated with taboos and myths existing in our traditional society which has a negative implication for women’s health, particularly their menstrual hygiene. Women having better knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene and safe practices are less vulnerable to reproductive tract infections.Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The sample size of 184 is obtained in each group and rounded off to 190 (urban and rural schools). The duration of the study was for 5 months among adolescent high school girls in randomly selected schools.Results: The mean age of urban girls was 12.87±0.94 years whereas rural girls it was 12.85±0.86 years. Among 380 study subjects 43.4% were aware about menstruation before attaining menarche, 62.4% were aware that menstruation is a natural process. Majority of study subjects (58.9%) were using sanitary pads during menstruation and 46.8% of study subject’s changes absorbents twice a day. Conclusion: Knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent high school girls is better in rural area as compared to urban adolescent high school girls.

Author(s):  
Aswathy Raj S. V. ◽  
Prabhakumari C.

Background: Menstrual hygiene practices are poor in developing countries and exist as an insufficiently acknowledged problem. The objective of this study was to assess and compare perceptions, attitudes, and practices among rural and urban high school girls.Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted in randomly selected 4 rural and 4 urban schools in Kozhikode district by cluster sampling method. 8th and 9th standard school girls who attained menarche were included in study. Data were collected by questionnaire.Results: Most of the girls gained information prior to menarche. Girls who wrongly perceived cause of menstruation was more in rural subjects compared to urban. Almost half of girls were either unaware or wrongly perceived source of bleeding. 50.9% urban girls were not mentally prepared for menarche as compared to 44.4% of rural girls. Majority of rural girls shared information with mothers compared to urban. 83.9% in rural and 78.2% urban had an attitude of menstruation as an unclean phenomenon. Majority had some form of restrictions during menstruation. Higher proportion of urban girls used sanitary pad compared to rural. 50.3% of urban and 42.8% of rural girls were disposing absorbent in to closet when at school. Among pad users, similar findings were noted at home also. A higher proportion of urban girls (55.9%) practiced good menstrual hygiene as compared to average hygiene practiced by rural girls (48.9%).Conclusions: The study shows significant rural-urban differences in perceptions, attitudes, and practices on menstrual hygiene in both areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1003-1008
Author(s):  
Mahnaz Mardani ◽  
Sadegh Rezapour ◽  
Fereshteh Hajipour

AbstractObjectivesSome factors in infancy can play a role in the development of adolescent obesity. Understanding these factors can help prevent early complications in adolescents associated with obesity in adulthood. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among high school girls in Khorramabad and its relationship with breastfeeding history.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study. This study was conducted in 832 high school girls during the academic year 2016–2017. Samples were selected by multi-stage random sampling. General questionnaires, physical activity, and 24-h food questions were completed through interviews with students. Data regarding breastfeeding was obtained by mothers.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight and obesity in the study population was 16.3 and 5.8%, respectively. Overweight and obesity had a significant association with breastfeeding history (p = 0.001), while there was no significant relationship between overweight and obesity with school type, student’s age, parental occupation, education Parents, household size, birth rate, physical activity, and energy intake.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that breast feeding has a protective effect on overweight and obesity during adolescence. To reduce the incidence of overweight and obesity, necessary education regarding breastfeeding should be provided.


Scientifica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Jamalikandazi ◽  
Elham Ranjbar ◽  
Eskandar Gholami-Parizad ◽  
Zeinab Ghazanfari ◽  
Seyed-Ali Mostafavi

Background. Adolescence is one of the most challenging periods for human growth and nutritional status. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status and anthropometric indices in high school girls in Ilam.Methods. This cross-sectional study was performed on 360 domestic high school girl students chosen randomly by cluster sampling. Data were gathered through interviews performed by a dietitian to fill 24-hour dietary recall and food frequency and demographic questionnaires. Then we performed the anthropometric measurements and we compared the results with CDC2000 standards. We analyzed our data by N4 food analyzer and SPSS16 software.Results. The prevalence of obesity and overweight was 5% and 10.8%, respectively. Simultaneously, the prevalence of underweight was 20.2%. The prevalence of stunting was 5.8%. We also showed that 50% of high school girls in Ilam suffered from severe food insecurity, 14.7% suffered from mild insecurity, and 4.7% get extra energy from foods. Food analysis showed that micronutrients such as zinc, iron, calcium, folate, fiber, magnesium, and vitamin B12 were less than what is recommended by the RDA.Conclusion. Undernutrition and overnutrition are completely prevalent among girls studied in Ilam. This needs further acts and investigations in the field and more nutritional and health educations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Zelalem Belayneh ◽  
Moges Mareg ◽  
Birhanie Mekuriaw

Introduction. Perception regarding menstruation is insufficiently acknowledged. Lack of adequate perception towards menstruation may make girls vulnerable to mental, emotional, and physical problems. This might also be a reason for the failure of menstrual hygiene practice which in turn can have multiple social and health consequences. Objective. To assess the perception and correlation regarding menstruation among adolescent high school girls in Gedeo zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methods. An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a randomly selected 791 adolescent high school girls at the Gedeo zone through the multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The data were entered to EPi Info version 3.5 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Frequency tables were used to describe study variables. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of significance. Result. From a total of 806 adolescent girls that were invited to participate in the study, 791 (98.1%) participated. The mean (±SD) age of respondents was 16.3 (±4.7) years. Living alone in dormitories {OR = 1.75 CI = (1.07, 2.85)}, lower maternal educational status {OR = 4.03, CI = (2.41, 6.74)}, and age of menarche before 12 years {OR = 2.07, CI = (1.02, 4.24)} were factors statistically associated with unfavorable perception regarding menstruation. Conclusion. Most high school girls had an unfavorable perception regarding menstruation. Living alone, lower maternal educational status, and age of menarche before 12 years were factors with statistically significant association with unfavorable perception regarding menstruation. This demonstrates a need to design and implement advocacy programs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1002-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahide Usami ◽  
Yoshitaka Iwadare ◽  
Kyota Watanabe ◽  
Masaki Kodaira ◽  
Hirokage Ushijima ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-124
Author(s):  
Saraswati V Sajjan ◽  
Neeta P N ◽  
Poonam P Shingade

Adolescence is the significant period in the life of a woman. Menstrual disturbances are the commonest presenting complaint in adolescent age group and unhygienic practices during menstruation can lead to untoward consequences like pelvic inflammatory disease and even infertility. To study the knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescents. This is a cross-sectional study conducted from October 2018 to December 2018 among 100 adolescent girls who attended adolescent clinics at Urban Health Training centre of KBNU Medical College, Kalaburagi. The mean age of participants was 16.2 ± 2.1 SD. only 26% of participants were aware about menstruation before menarche. Majority (91%) of participants had knowledge about use of sanitary pads during menstruation but only 78% used them. The most common reason for non usage was the cost of pads (68%). The method of disposal was satisfactory among 62% of participants and 84% of participants change their pads /cloth pieces 2-3 times per day. Restriction of diet during menstruation was seen in 40% and 30% missed school during their periods. Although there was good knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls, practice needs to improve. Health education sessions at urban health clinics and schools involving mothers of these adolescent girls can aid to overcome socio cultural practices of restricting movement and diet restrictions during menstruation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 486
Author(s):  
Ghasem Fattahzadeh-Ardalani ◽  
Rahim Masoumi ◽  
Firouz Amani ◽  
Anahita Zakeri

Background: Overweight and obesity and its problems are the most important health and nutrition issues of adolescents in developed countries. This study aimed to determine prevalence of overweight and obesity among high school girls in Ardabil.Methods: As a cross sectional study height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured. BMI and WHR were used to assess the overweight and obesity. Data analysed by statistical methods in SPSS.19.Results: The mean age of students was 16.6±1.1 years.  0.25 of students were in age 16.  According to BMI, 8.8% of all students have overweight. According to the WHR, 72 (35.1%) had WHR >0.8 which were in unhealthy high risk group.Conclusions: Results showed that the rate of overweight and obesity in high school girls in Ardabil was lower than many studies in country. So, programming for rising their knowledge about obesity related factors and increasing their physical activity and modify feeding behaviour is essential.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa M. Alfoukha ◽  
Ayman M. Hamdan-Mansour ◽  
Manar Ali Banihani

Prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) has increased among adolescents in Arabic and Western countries. The purposes are to identify the risk of ED and psychosocial correlates of risk of ED among high school girls in Jordan. The researchers employed a cross-sectional, correlational design using 799 high school girls from governmental and private schools in the central region of Jordan. The results indicate that prevalence of the risk of ED was 12%. The risk of ED had significant and positive correlation with body shape dissatisfaction, self-esteem, psychological distress, and pressure from family, peers, and media ( p < .001). Body shape dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, negative peer pressure, and being young were significant predictors of the risk of EDs. Risk of ED is highly prevalent among high school girls, and school nurses need to adopt a model of care addressing the risk factors while caring for high school girls.


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