scholarly journals Menstrual Hygiene Practices among Adolescent School Girls in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
Naveed Mansoori ◽  
◽  
Hiba Tanweer ◽  
Imtiaz Ahmed ◽  
Abdullah . ◽  
...  

Objectives: To evaluate menstrual hygiene practices among teenage girls and to compare menstrual hygiene practices among secondary and higher secondary school girls in Pakistan Methodology: A cross-sectional study of adolescent girls (grades 9 to 12) from different secondary and higher secondary schools across Pakistan was conducted between November 2017 and September 2018. A pre-tested and standardized questionnaire was administered using a non-probability sampling technique. The menstrual hygiene practices were evaluated and comparisons were made between secondary and higher secondary school girls about these practices. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22. P-value < 0.05 was set for being statistically significant. Results: Out of a total of 2,000 adolescent girls, an equal number of adolescent girls (n=1,000) were chosen from secondary and higher secondary schools. The mean menarchal age was 12.5 ± 1.2 years. Majority of the participants (63.6%) belonged to public sector schools and (71.3%) responded that menstrual blood comes from the womb. One in five (19.3%) girls missed 2 days/month of school due to pain (54.5%). Two-thirds (68.6%) of the participants were using sanitary pads and one of three changed their pads three times/day, and forty-six percent of the girls were unable to carry out daily activities due to menstrual period. Statistically significant (P < 0.05) association was observed between knowledge of menstruation among secondary and higher secondary school girls. Conclusion: The study showed that menstrual hygiene was understood well among young girls. However, a substantial association was noted between secondary and higher secondary school girls’ hygiene practices.

Author(s):  
Anjana Tiwari ◽  
Indu Jyotsna Ekka ◽  
Rajni Thakur

Background: Poor menstrual hygiene practices result into adverse health outcome in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and its consequences. The objective of present study was to assess the Knowledge and Practices regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent school girls.Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was done among adolescent girls of class VII, VIII, IX and X (who attained menarche) in Government higher secondary school, station Murhipar, Rajnandgaon (C.G.) during September 2017 to October 2017 (two months) using a pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire. Statistical analysis: Collected data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage).Results: A total of 141 adolescent school girls in the age group 12 to 17 years participated in this study. The mean age of menarche of the respondents was 12.9 years (range 11-15 years). Majority of girls (85.8%) were aware about menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. Mother was the first informant in case of 55.4% girls. Majority of girls (90.1%) practiced different restrictions during menstruation. Only 2.1% girls used sanitary pads during menstruation. Regarding hygienic practices, only 29.8% of girls change their cloths/pads three and above times per day and 98.6% girls had daily bath with soap during menstruation. Satisfactory hand washing with soap and water after changing pad during menstruation was present in 96.4%. Cleanliness of external genitalia was satisfactory in case of 80.1% girls.Conclusions: The adolescent girls need to be educated about fact of menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices in order to improve the menstrual hygiene.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamata Sharma Neupane ◽  
Kalpana Sharma ◽  
Archana Pandey Bista ◽  
Subash Subedi ◽  
Sandesh Lamichhane

Background: Menstrual hygiene is very important aspect for adolescent girls and proper men­strual hygiene has not been sufficiently addressed in developing countries including Nepal. This study aimed to assess the knowledge on menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescent girls studying in selected schools of Chitwan district. A total 193 girls who had menstrual flow experience for at least three consecutive menstrual cycles were selected as sample using the consecutive sampling technique. Data were analyzed in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Most of the girls knew about menstruation as physiological process, normal age of men­struation, and causes of menstruation as hormonal change. Overall, 66.8% of girls had adequate level of knowledge on menstruation. Regarding practice, 94.8% cleaned their genitalia properly, 93.8% used the sanitary pads, and 97.4% wrapped and disposed the pads in dustbin after use. Over­all, 72.5% of girls had good level of menstrual hygiene practices. Adolescent girl’s age and grade, and occupation status of their father were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with menstrual hygiene practice. Further, significant positive relationship found between knowledge on menstruation and menstrual hygiene practice. Conclusions: One third of adolescent girls have inadequate knowledge on menstruation and one fourth have poor menstrual hygiene practice. Therefore, an awareness and advocacy programs on menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices are needed for the adolescent girls to safeguard themselves against reproductive tract infections.


Author(s):  
Nwe Nwe Htun ◽  
Orapin Laosee ◽  
Cheerawit Rattanapan

Objective: The study assessed the underlying factors that influence menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in adolescent girls, and how it can have an effect on the girls’ education, health and daily life.Material and Methods: A community-based, quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted through face-to-face interviews, with 410 adolescent girls. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were applied, to describe and predict significant associations and predictors between MHM and its independent variables; such as knowledge, attitudes and practices related to menstruation, and accessibility of MHM facilities.Results: More than half of the respondents had poor MHM levels. Menstrual knowledge [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)= 2.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.32-3.56], attitude towards menstruation (AOR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.11-2.46), menstrual hygiene practices (AOR=2.53, 1.78-3.98) and the accessibility of MHM facilities (AOR=2.44, 95% CI: 1.29-4.62) were the factors associated with MHM. Girls with poor MHM levels were 1.1 times more likely to be affected in their daily activities, as compared to those with good MHM levels.Conclusion: The adolescent girls participating in the study were still unable to manage their menstrual hygiene well, owing to their inadequate knowledge in relation to menstruation, unhealthy menstrual hygiene practices; and the limited accessibility to MHM facilities. Establishment of such correlation necessitates; for instance, setting up a menstrual health education program as well as provision of MHM facilities, will enable the adolescent girls in Mudon Township, Mon State, Myanmar to minimize the negative impacts on their daily lives.


Author(s):  
Hema Priya S. ◽  
Partha Nandi ◽  
Seetharaman N. ◽  
Ramya M. R. ◽  
Nishanthini N. ◽  
...  

Background: Adolescent population occupies 1/5th of world’s population and in India 20.9% of the population falls into this age group. Social prohibitions and traditional beliefs blocked the access to get the right kind of information to adolescent girls that led to poor hygiene practices. These practices results in harbouring of micro-organisms that increases susceptibility to genito-urinary infections. Hence this study was conducted to study the menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls and in rural Puducherry.Objectives: To study the menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls in rural Puducherry.Methodology: A community based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in rural field practicing area of MGMCRI, Puducherry, from 15th of March 2013 to 31st April 2014 by using semi-structured questionnaire. 528 adolescent girls were included by complete enumeration.Results: Majority (89.2%) of the adolescent girls was using sanitary pads, fresh and reusable cloths were used by 6.6% and 4.2%, respectively.  65.3% girls changed their soaked absorbent 2-5 times in a day. Majority (60.8%) of the girls disposed their used absorbent by burying or burning. 67.9% girls were washing genitalia during micturition. 54.4% used soap and water for hand cleaning purpose and 1.4% used ash & mud etc.Conclusions: Even though sanitary pad users were high, unhygienic practices were noticed, so more emphasize is needed to be given on awareness of menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls.Key words: Adolescent girls, menstrual health and hygiene, sanitary pads, genito-urinary illness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zelalem Belayneh ◽  
Birhanie Mekuriaw

Abstract Background Menstruation is a normal physiological process of females at their reproductive age. However, it is surrounded with social taboos and supernatural beliefs. The poor knowledge and understanding of menstruation may lead to unsafe hygienic practice that intern increases the risk of reproductive and genito-urinary tract infections, cervical cancer, school drop-out, poor academic performance and overall poor quality of life. Despite such clinical and academic effects, the knowledge and hygienic practice of adolescent girls towards menstruation is not well addressed in Ethiopia, particularly among school adolescent girls. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and menstrual hygiene practice among adolescent school girls in southern Ethiopia. Methods This was an institutional based cross-sectional study conducted at Gedeo zone high schools among 791 randomly selected adolescent girls using multi stage sampling technique. Data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered to EPI-INFO (soft ware) and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistics analyses were computed to identify factors associated with the poor menstrual hygienic practice. During bi-variable analysis, variables with P-values of less than 0.25 were entered to multivariable model for further analysis. In the final model, P-value of less than 0.05 was used as a base to identify factors having a statistically significant association with poor menstrual hygiene practice at corresponding 95% confidence interval. Result From a total of 791 adolescent girls participated in this study, 68.3% had poor knowledge of menstruation. About 48.1% of school girls used absorbent materials, and 69.5% clean their external genitalia. Generally, 60.3% of girls had poor menstrual hygienic practice. Age less than 15 years [OR = 1.71:95% CI (1.22, 2.39)], longer days of menstrual flow [OR = 2.51:95% CI (1.66, 3.80)] and poor knowledge of menses [OR = 1.48:95% CI (1.04, 2.1)] had a significantly associated with poor menstrual hygiene practice. Conclusion Majority of adolescent school girls had poor knowledge regarding menstruation and their hygienic practices are incorrect. This demonstrates a need to design acceptable awareness creation and advocacy programs to improve the knowledge and promote safe hygienic practice of adolescent school girls during menstruation.


Author(s):  
Mohnish N. Tundia ◽  
Dhara V. Thakrar

Background: Adolescence in girls has been recognized as a special period in life cycle. This period is marked with onset of menarche. It is linked with several perceptions and practices, which sometimes results in adverse health outcomes. So, this study was carried out to assess practices of menstruation in adolescent girls, to find out its related problems and socio-cultural beliefs.Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out during January-February 2018 in two schools of Udaipur using convenient sampling method with 440 sample size. Participants were adolescent girls of 9 to 12 standard. Girls were asked to fill a pre formed, pre tested semi-structured questionnaire.Results: Here 68.41% girls gave history of abdominal pain as premenstrual symptoms (PMS). School absenteeism was found 44.54% due to menstruation related problems. Sanitary Napkins were used by 50.22% girls. And 66.54% girls were using water to clean genitals during menstruation. Restriction from attending religious functions was high (91.59%). Associations of absorbents used by participants with absorbents used by their mothers and sisters were statistically significant.Conclusions: Abdominal pain was main PMS. Restrictions due to menstruation were very highly imposed. There were all chances that same types of the adsorbent were used by the adolescent girls, which were used by their mothers and sisters. 


Author(s):  
Sasmita Pradhan ◽  
Krishna Kar ◽  
Barada Prasanna Samal ◽  
Jagannath Pradhan

Background: In the life of a female, menarche denotes the beginning of her reproductive capacity. Menstrual hygiene is an issue that every girl has to deal with in her life, but there is lack of awareness on the process of menstruation, the physical and psychological changes associated with puberty and proper requirement for managing menstruation.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2016 to December 2016 in the urban field practice area of SCB Medical College. One government high school and one private high school were selected purposively. A purposeful convenience sampling was done to select the girls who were studying in 8th, 9th and 10th standard. Data collected from 165 adolescent school girls using a predesigned, pretested and structured questionnaire. The objective of the present study is to assess the knowledge and practices regarding menstrual hygiene among school going adolescent girls and to know about the restrictions imposed upon them during menstruation.Results: Most of the adolescent girls (61.82%) had attained menarche between 13-15 years of age. 59.39% girls were aware about menstruation before menarche. The source of information about menstruation was the mother or elder sister in most of the girls (81.21 %), followed by teachers/friends in case of 18.79 % girls. 84.85% of the girls used only sanitary pad, 4.24% used only cloth and the rest 10.91% used both sanitary pad and cloth during menstruation.Conclusions: Maintenance of menstrual hygiene was better in private school girls as compared to government school girls. Health education sessions about menstrual hygiene should be conducted in the schools for spreading awareness regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene.


Author(s):  
Pradeep Senapathi ◽  
Hemant Kumar

Background: Menstruation is a completely normal biological process. Yet women and girls, the world over, face numerous challenges and taboos which often portray them as inferior to men. Poor hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools cause girls to experience menstruation as shameful and uncomfortable. The objective of the study was to assess and compare the status of menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban adolescent school girls.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from 01 September 2016 to 31 October 2016, among 244 adolescent school girls, in urban and rural field practice areas of A.J. Institute of Medical Sciences of Research, Mangaluru, Karnataka.Results: A total of 244 adolescent school girls participated in this study. Out of these, 54.17% girls were from rural, while 45.83% were from the urban school. Mean age of menarche of all the respondents was 12.61±0.81 years. Overall, 69.67% girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. The awareness was found to be more among urban school girls (72.32%) as compared to rural girls (67.42%). The study brings out that 49.24% of the girls in the rural school and 65.17% of the girls in urban school were using sanitary pads. ‘High cost’ was cited as the main reason for not using the sanitary pads.Conclusions: Menstrual hygiene management was found to be sub-optimal among both, urban as well as rural adolescent girls.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL4) ◽  
pp. 1703-1708
Author(s):  
Sukanya L ◽  
Roshinidevi Baskaran

The topic of menstrual hygiene has been highly stigmatised in India due to which girls tend to lack awareness regarding various scientific and practical aspects of menstruation. This lack of awareness among adolescent girls regarding menstrual hygiene can lead to negative impacts on their reproductive health. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding menstrual hygiene among school-going adolescent girls. A cross-sectional study using a pre-validated questionnaire was conducted among 168 adolescent school-going girls and found that only 37.3% of the study participants were aware of menstruation before attaining menarche. Only 25.3% of study participants either slept or ate separately from their family members while menstruating. All participants were using sanitary pads and disposed of them after usage indicating no reuse. Proper wrapping and disposal of pads in closed garbage bins was followed by 97% of study participants. A significant association between awareness of the cause of menstruation and the higher class of study was established. Though knowledge about menstruation before attaining menarche is meagre, the practices and attitude regarding were reasonable compared to other studies, mainly attributed to awareness and help received after menarche.


Author(s):  
Sunil Pal Singh Chajhlana ◽  
Sai Ram Amaravadhi ◽  
Sai Deepika Mazodi ◽  
Venkata Sravani Kolusu

Background: The word adolescent is derived from the Latin word “adolescere”, which means to grow into maturity. The adolescent girls get debarred due to various social misconceptions, lack of privacy, illiteracy of parents, especially mother, low socioeconomic conditions, and lack of proper health awareness and education about this sensitive issue which ultimately results this age group into vulnerability to reproductive tract infections, which can be reduced by improving the knowledge about the menstrual hygiene.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among school going adolescent girls during the month of November 2018. Data was collected using a questionnaire which includes socio-demographic variables and menstrual hygiene practices. Sample size of the study was 69 students. The assessment of knowledge was done as good knowledge (score: >5/10) poor knowledge (score <5/10). The of data and the. All the data collected was entered and analysed with MS excel software 2007.Results: 28.1% girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche.. Major source of information about menstruation is mother (53.6%). More than 80% of adolescent girls are using sanitary pads as an absorbent. Lack of disposal facility and lack of water supply are reasons for school absenteeism.Conclusions: In this study the knowledge of menstruation hygiene among the study population is significantly associated with mother’s education and occupation. 


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