Awareness and management of menstrual hygiene practices in adolescent girls
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20213022Keywords:
Menstruation, Menstrual hygiene management, Awareness, Menarche, Symptoms, IrregularitiesAbstract
Background: Menstruation is a natural part of the female reproductive cycle in which periodic discharge of blood from the uterus exits through the vagina. Menstruation is also surrounded with social taboos and supernatural beliefs. The poor knowledge and understanding of menstruation may lead to unsafe hygienic practice that in turn increases the risk of reproductive and genito-urinary tract infections and leads to overall poor quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare the awareness about menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls along with objectives of evaluation of menstrual hygiene practices.
Methods: The study was a prospective observational study done with a sample size of 650 subjects of 9 to 18 age group in whom menstruation already occurred who were recruited from five different schools in regions of Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. The study was conducted in 3 phases, where initially a pre designed well-structured questionnaire was provided to assess the attitude, awareness and practices.
Results: The results obtained described that the subjects had better knowledge and positive attitude regarding menstruation and hygiene practices when compared to subjects from other regions of India but still they lacked some adequate and updated information on menstruation.
Conclusions: This study paved a way for discussion on menstruation to the adolescent girls, providing them the information they lacked and a better guidance.
Metrics
References
Cleavel and Clinic. Normal menstruation. Available at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/10132-normal-menstruation. Accessed on 22 June 2021.
Sinha RN, Paul B. Menstrual hygiene management in India: the concerns. Indian J Public Health. 2018;62(2):71-4.
Nagar S, Aimol KR. Knowledge of adolescent girls regarding menstruation in tribal areas of Meghalaya. Stud Tribes Tribal. 2010;8(1):27-30.
Hemapriya S, Nandi P, Seetharaman N, Ramya MR, Nishanthini N, Lokeshmaran A. Menstruation hygiene and related personal hygiene practices among adolescent girl in rural Puducherry. Int J Commun Med Public Health. 2017;4(7):2348-55.
Devi D, Ramaiah V. A study on menstrual hygiene among rural adolescent girls. Indian J Med Sci. 1994;48(6):139-43.
Sridevi M, Malarvizhi M. Knowledge, attitude and practice study on menstrual hygiene among the unmarried adolescent girls (10-19) in Kasavanampatti village in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu. Integrated Bar Philippines J. 2018;8(1):1-7.
Deshpande TN, Patil SS, Gharai BS, Patil SR, Durgawale PM. Menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls-a study from urban slum area. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2018;7(6):1439-45.
Mahajan A, Kaushal K. A descriptive study to assess the knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of government school of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Chrismed J Health Res. 2017;4(2):99-103.
Kapoor G, Kumar D. Menstrual hygiene: knowledge and practice among adolescent schoolgirls in rural settings. Int J Reproduct Contracept Obstetr Gynecol. 2017;6(3):959-62.
Huisman J, Rani U, Smits JPJM. School characteristics, socio-economic status and culture as determinants of primary school enrolment in India. NICE Working Paper. 2010.
Kavitha M, Jadhav Y, Ranganath TS, Vishwanatha. Assessment of knowledge and menstrual hygiene management among adolescent school girls of Nelamangala. Int J Commun Med Public Health. 2018;5(9):4135-9.
Thakre SB, Thakre SS, Reddy M, Rathi N, Pathak K, Ughade S. Menstrual hygiene: knowledge and practice among adolescent school girls of Saoner, Nagpur District. J Clinic Diagn Res. 2011;5(5):1027-33.
Menstrual Hygiene. Available at: www.unicef.org/wash/menstrual-hygiene.com. Accessed on 20 May 2021.
Paria B, Bhattacharyya A, Das S. Comparative study on menstrual hygiene among urban and rural adolescent girls of West Bengal. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2014;3(4): 413-7.
Nair P, Grover VL, Kannan AT. Awareness and practices of menstruation and pubertal changes amongst unmarried female adolescents in a rural area of East Delhi. Indian J Commun Med. 2007;32(2):156-7.
Das P, Baker KK, Dutta A, Swain T, Sahoo S, Das BS, et al. Menstrual hygiene practices, WASH access and the risk of urogenital infection in women from Odisha, India. Public Lib Sci. 2015;10(6):0130777.
Sultan S, Sahu DS. Knowledge, attitude and practices about menstruation and related problems in adolescent girls. Int J Reproduct Contracept Obstetr Gynaecol. 2017;6(12):5235-40.
Garg S, Sharma N, Sahav R. Socio-cultural aspects of menstruation in an urban slum in Delhi, India. Int J Sex Reproduct Health Right. 2001;9(17):16-25.
Mitra A, Mahajan RG, Rangoonwala M, Kadri AM, Amin C, Gajera K. Awareness and practices on menstrual hygiene amongst adolescent girls in Rajkot district of Gujarat. Healthline J. 2015;6(2):1-7.
Chaudhuri A, Singh A, Dhaliwal L. Randomised controlled trial of exercise and hot water bottle in the management of dysmenorrhoea in school girls of Chandigarh, India. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2014;57(2):114-22.
Yang H, Zhou B, Prinz M, Siegel D. Proteomic analysis of menstrual blood. Molecul Cell Proteomic. 2012;11(10):1024-35.
Healthline. Fact sheet: How to Clean Your Vagina and Vulva. Available at: www.healthline. com/health/how-to-clean-your-vagina#how-to-wash. Accessed on 22 June 2021.
Sadiq MA, Salih AA, et al. Knowledge and practice of adolescent females about menstruation in Baghdad. J Gen Pract. 2013;2(1).
Bharthi HP, Murthy SN, Babina N. Management of pelvic pain in primary dysmenorrhea using a hot hip-bath: a pilot study. Alternat Therap Health Med. 2012;18(1):24-5.
Sowmya BC, Manjunatha S, Kumar J. Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls: a cross sectional study. J Evolut Med Dent Sci. 2014;3(28):7955-61.
Kaur R, Kaur K. Menstrual hygiene, management, and waste disposal: practices and challenges faced by girls/women of developing countries. J Environment Public Health. 2018;5:1-9.
Fehintola OF, Fehintola AO, Aremu AO, Idowu A, Ogunlaja OA, Ogunlaja IP. Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice about menstruation and menstrual hygiene among secondary high school girls in Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria. Int J Reproduct Contracept Obstetr Gynecol. 2017;6(5):1726-72.
Udayar SE, Kruthika K, Devi PV. Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls residing in tribal and social welfare hostel in Andhra Pradesh: a community based study. Nat J Commun Med. 2016;7(8):681-5.
Rai N, Crimbly F, Aftab S, Baig A, Fernandes N, Mahmood SU. An assessment of knowledge and practices relating to the usage of sanitary pads. Int J Commun Med Public Health. 2019;6(4):1411-5.
The Telegrapf. Fact sheet: Should you use soap on your vagina? Available at: www.telegraph.co. uk/beauty/body/should-use-soap-vagina/. Accessed on 22 June 2021.
NHS. Fact sheet: Keep your vagina clean and healthy. Available at: www.nhs.uk/live-well/sexual-health/keeping-your-vagina-clean-and-healthy/. Accessed on 22 June 2021.
Period hygiene: You should change your sanitary napkins these many times. Available at: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/photo-stories/period-hygiene-youshould-change-your-sanitary-napkin-these-manytimes.com Accessed on 22 June 2021.
Swacch India. Fact sheet: Menstrual Hygiene Day Facts: Only 36 Percent Of The Women In India Use Sanitary Pads During Periods. Available at: https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/23-million-women-drop-out-of-school-every-year-whenthey-start-menstruating-in-india-17838/. Accessed on 22 June 2021.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
