Menstrual Morbidities, Menstrual Hygiene, Cultural Practices during Menstruation, and WASH Practices at Schools in Adolescent Girls of North Karnataka, India: A Cross-Sectional Prospective Study

Background. Issues of menstrual morbidities, menstrual hygiene, and cultural practices are rarely discussed by adolescents. The burden of menstruation and cultural practices which the adolescent girls have to face has been less quantified. This study aims to assess the issues related to menstruation in school girls. Method. A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted on 1016 school-going adolescent girls in January 2020. A questionnaire in English and in Kannada was distributed to girls of class 8–12 of ages between 10 and 19 years. Results. 70.5% of the girls attained menarche by 12 to 14.9 years, 37.2% of the girls had their periods every 28–34 days, and 12.2% of the girls said they have heavy periods. 61.95% of the girls had dysmenorrheal, and 9.7% of the girls said that they required medications for the pain. 70.7% of the girls were using commercial sanitary napkins, 12.7% were using cloth, and 15.3% were using both. 55.5% of the girls who were using cloth as an absorbent were not drying the cloth in sunlight. 57.1% of the girls were washing their genitals more than 2 times a day. 93.8% were having bath during menses and 87.2% were using soap along with water. 37.7% of the girls disposed their pads by burning them, 50.8% of then disposed them in the dust bin, and 4.9% of them buried them. 8.6% of the girls said that they remained completely absent from school during periods. 17.85% said that they remained absent for a day. 53.4% of the respondents said that they have difficulty in concentrating at school. 76.1% said that they had adequate water and sanitation facilities at school. 22.3% said that there was adequate facility to change their pads at school. 73.2% said that they could get a spare pad at school. 43.3% of the girls said they avoided cultural functions during their periods, and 38.5% said that they avoided religious ceremonies and practices during their periods. 8.7% of the girls were made to sit outside the house during their periods. The girls from rural areas had poorer hygienic habits, in comparison to the urban girls. Cultural restrictions such as sitting outside the house during menstruation and restricting play were more in the rural girls than the urban girls. Conclusion. Menstrual morbidities, menstrual hygiene management, and cultural beliefs all play a role in school absenteeism in adolescent girls. Improvement of facilities at school and conducting awareness programs can help adolescent girls to attend schools.

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Knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among urban adolescents- A cross-sectional study

Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine ◽

10.18231/j.ijfcm.2021.024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 120-124

Author(s):

Saraswati V Sajjan ◽

Neeta P N ◽

Poonam P Shingade

Keyword(s):

Urban Health ◽

Adolescent Girls ◽

Cultural Practices ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Training Centre ◽

Medical College ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

Knowledge And Practice

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.

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Menstrual health status and cultural practices of tribal adolescent girls

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20174648 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (11) ◽

pp. 4120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sridhar D. ◽

Gauthami N.

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Family Income ◽

Cultural Practices ◽

Late Adolescent ◽

Community Based ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

Menstrual Health ◽

Education And Awareness ◽

Hygiene Education

Background: Adolescence in the life cycle of a Homosapien organism is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood. The word ‘Adolescent’ has been derived from Latin word ‘Adolescere’ which means ‘to grow to maturity’. The children from the poor scheduled tribes families are not being sent to school because of the tendency of some parents to utilize their services in augmenting their family income. Therefore a provision for educational opportunities forms a very important part of the programme for the welfare of the scheduled tribes. The aim of the present study was to observe menstrual health of the tribal adolescent girls and to describe cultural factors on study population.Methods: Community based cross sectional descriptive study done on 425 tribal adolescent girls residing in 18 habitations of Achampet mandal. Pre designed pre tested semi structured schedule applied on the subjects after a written informed consent.Results: Out of 425 study subjects majority 178 (41.9%) were from early adolescent age i.e. 10-13 years, followed by 144 (33.9%) from mid adolescent age i.e., 14-15 years and 103 (24.2%) from late adolescent age i.e. 16-19 years. Majority illiterate subjects (55.1%) menstrual hygiene was non sanitary. Subjects who had illiterate mothers their menstrual hygiene was non sanitary way (55.1%). Girls in joint families were having sanitary menstrual hygiene.Conclusions: Present study showed education and awareness play key role in maintaining menstrual hygiene. Hygiene education is supposed to be given at all levels. Bad cultural practices supposed be addressed at community level with intervention.

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Knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of rural field practice area of RIMS, Raipur (C. G.), India

International Journal of Reproduction Contraception Obstetrics and Gynecology ◽

10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20182342 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (6) ◽

pp. 2317 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Neerja Agarwal ◽

Nutan Soni ◽

S. P. Singh ◽

G. P. Soni

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Medical Science ◽

External Genitalia ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Indian Society ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Training Centre ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

Inaccurate Information ◽

Field Practice

Background: Adolescent age group among girls have been recognized as a special period which signifies the transition from girlhood to womanhood. Menstruation is generally considered as unclean in the Indian society. Most of the adolescent girls had incomplete and inaccurate information about the menstrual physiology and hygiene as reported by many Indian studies. Very few authors have included the detailed aspects of the menstrual practices among adolescent girls.Methods: The current Community based cross sectional study was conducted by department of obstetrics and Gynaecology in connection with department of community medicine, Raipur Institute of Medical Science, Raipur (C.G), India. Among the adolescent school going girls in the field practice area of the Rural Health Unit and Training Centre during study period of 6 month from July 2017 to December 2017. 263 girls from the above mentioned schools, of the 8th and 9th standards, were selected for the study.Results: Majority of the school going adolescent girls belongs to 13 and 14 year of age. 50.95% , 21.67% and 12.93% girls reported that they had their menarche at the age of 13 year, 12 year and 14 year respectively. Majority of the girls were using cloth (49.81%) and only 17.87% were using sanitary napkins. Cleaning of external genitalia was not satisfactory in 32.70% of the girls. Only 58.17% girls used both soap and water for cleaning the genitalia. Pain in abdomen (59.70%) was found to be the most frequent complaint during menstruation.Conclusions: Knowledge on menstruation is sub-optimal and the practices are unacceptable for proper hygiene among study subjects. Menstrual hygiene is an important issue needs to be ensured.

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A descriptive cross-sectional study on menstrual hygiene and perceived reproductive morbidity among adolescent girls in a union territory, India

Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care ◽

10.4103/2249-4863.220031 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 360 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mausumi Basu ◽

Prakash Mathiyalagen ◽

Birundhanjali Peramasamy ◽

Kavita Vasudevan ◽

Johnson Cherian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

Union Territory

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An epidemiological study of menstrual hygiene practices in school going adolescent girls from urban slums of Nalgonda, Telangana

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20195853 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 196

Author(s):

Jyothi Veleshala ◽

Varun M. Malhotra ◽

Suresh J. Thomas ◽

Kondagunta Nagaraj

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Educational Status ◽

Urban Slum ◽

Age At Menarche ◽

Female Teacher ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

School Girls ◽

The Mean ◽

Sanitary Pads

Background: Reproductive health of adolescent girls is crucial as it determines the health of future generations. School girls when experiencing menarche find themselves in a setting without water, toilets or a supportive female teacher to explain the changes happening in their body. Hence, the present study was conducted to assess knowledge and practices about menstruation in adolescent school girls of an urban slum and to find some socio-demographic determinants of menstrual hygiene.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 6th to 10th class school going adolescent girls from an urban slum of Telangana state. A total of 300 girls participated.Results: The mean age of the students was 11.9±3.3 years. The mean age at menarche was 13.09 (95% CI: 12.07–14.11). 25.3% had acquired prior knowledge about attaining menarche. For majority (74.2%) the knowledge was imparted by their mothers. 96.9% of school girls used sanitary pads. Significant association observed between educational status and employment status of mother and usage of sanitary pads by respondent. Almost 90% of the young women faced physical complaints or health problems during menstruation. Majority (94.3%) had religious restrictions on them during the menstruation.Conclusions: Menstrual hygiene is an issue which needs to be addressed to all adolescents, with special emphasis in slum area. Lack of awareness is a roadblock in adopting safe and hygienic menstrual practices. More emphasis should be given on improving adolescent literacy for achieving hygienic menstrual practices.

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Assessment of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of East Delhi: A community-based cross-sectional research from an urban resettlement colony

Indian Journal of Community and Family Medicine ◽

10.4103/ijcfm.ijcfm_53_19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 141

Author(s):

AnitaShankar Acharya ◽

Nidhi Tiwari ◽

SanjeevKumar Rasania ◽

Jyoti Khandekar ◽

Damodar Bachani

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Community Based ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene

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Menstrual Hygiene Practice and School Absenteeism among Rural Adolescent girls of Kalikot district

Nepal Medical College Journal ◽

10.3126/nmcj.v21i4.27614 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 258-264

Author(s):

D Ranabhat ◽

S Nepal ◽

B. Regmi

Keyword(s):

High School Students ◽

Menstrual Cycle ◽

Adolescent Girls ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Hygiene Practice ◽

School Absenteeism ◽

School Students ◽

Government Schools ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene

Menstruation is a part of female reproductive cycle that starts when girls become sexually mature at the time of puberty. This study sought to assess the menstrual hygiene practice and school absenteeism among the rural school going adolescent girls. A descriptive cross-sectional study was done among 321 female high school students of 4 selected government schools of Kalikot a rural district of Nepal. It was found that majority of student’s menstrual hygiene practice was poor i.e. 86.9%. Majority of respondents (96 %) used clean cloth during their menstruation cycle, whereas only 4% of respondents used sanitary pad. Almost every adolescent girl i.e. 98.8 % practiced any cultural restriction. Nearly 1 in 4 respondents (22.1%) did not attend school during their last menstruation and more than 1 in 10 adolescent girls felt that their academic performance was degraded after menarche. Adolescent girls of 10-14 age group were three time more likely to have poor practice than those who were between 15-19 years. Adolescent girls from nuclear families are 1.9 times more likely to be absent from school during the menstrual cycle in comparison to girls from joint families. The study revealed that among the adolescent girls of the study area, the overall menstrual hygiene practice was found to be poor and the various beliefs were found to be inappropriate and school absenteeism was also prevalent during menstrual cycle.

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Menstrual Hygiene and Reproductive Morbidity in Adolescent Girls in Dehradun, India

Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science ◽

10.3329/bjms.v13i2.14257 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 170-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ruchi Juyal ◽

S. D. Kandpal ◽

Jayanti Semwal

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Gender Discrimination ◽

Reproductive Tract ◽

Strong Association ◽

Medical Science ◽

Lower Abdominal Pain ◽

Reproductive Tract Infections ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

Tract Infections

Context: In India, adolescent girls face serious health problem due to socio-economic, environmental and cultural conditions as well as gender discrimination. A vast majority of girls in India are suffering from either general or reproductive morbidities. Unhygienic practices during menstruation expose them for Reproductive Tract Infections (RTI). If not treated early, it could lead to various disabilities and consequently affect their valuable lives. This study was done with the aim of estimating the magnitude of gynaecological morbidities among unmarried adolescent girls as well as to find out the relation between menstrual hygiene and RTI. Settings and Design: Cross-Sectional Observational study conducted in two randomly selected Inter colleges (one rural and one urban) of district Dehradun, Uttarakhand state. Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in school going unmarried adolescent girls to know their menstrual hygiene practices as well as reproductive morbidity. Data was collected by interview method using a pretested, prestructured questionnaire after taking consent. Statistical analysis used: percentages and Chi-square test. Results: Approximately 65 % of the girls reported having dysmenorrhoea and 19 % of the girls had given the history of excessive vaginal discharge with or without low backache/lower abdominal pain. Strong association was found between Reproductive Tract Infections and poor menstrual hygiene. Conclusions: Girls should be made aware of the process of menstruation and importance of maintaining its hygiene before attaining menarche. They should also be made aware about its linkages with their forthcoming reproductive health. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v13i2.14257 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.13(2) 2014 p.170-174

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A study of menstrual hygiene among rural adolescent school girls in rural field practice area of a medical college, Davangere- a cross sectional study

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20194526 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (10) ◽

pp. 4538

Author(s):

Vidya Basavaraju ◽

Chetan Lakshmikantha Bukanakere ◽

Madonna J. Dsouza ◽

Ashok Kumar Shivakumar Mallenahalli

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Sociodemographic Factors ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

World Population ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Menstrual Hygiene ◽

Self Confidence ◽

Field Practice ◽

Socio Economic Variables

Background: Adolescence in girls signifies the transition from girlhood to womanhood; one fifth of world population is between 10 and 19 years old. Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to the females. Menstruation is a monthly occurrence that requires access to appropriate materials and facilities, without which, females suffer from poor menstrual hygiene which restricts their movement and self-confidence. Increased knowledge about menstruation right from childhood may escalate safe practices and may help in mitigating the suffering of millions of women.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 200 adolescent girls in a rural field practice area of S. S. Institute of Medical Sciences. Data on socio-economic variables and menstrual characteristics were collected using pre-tested questionnaires for a period of two months from September to October 2018.Results: Total of 200 girls was interviewed. 87.6% of the girls were aware about menstruation prior to the attainment of menarche. Mothers were the first informants in about 56.5% girls. Overall 51.5% adolescent girls were using sanitary napkins as menstrual absorbent, while 45.6% were using used cloths. 97.6% girls practiced different restrictions during menstruation. Some of the sociodemographic factors like religion, type of family and mother’s education, SES were significantly associated with menstrual hygienic practices.Conclusions: There is a need to educate the girls about menstruation, its importance and hygiene maintenance; to enable them to lead a healthy reproductive life in future.

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