Menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls: A cross sectional study in urban community of Gandhinagar (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Background: Menstruation and menstrual practices are still associated with socio-cultural restriction and taboos which results lack of knowledge and awareness in adolescent girls and remain ignore of scientific facts and hygienic practices during menstruation leads to severe reproductive health problems. The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge and menstrual hygiene practices among urban adolescent girls.Methods: A cross sectional observational study conducted. Total 120 adolescent girls enrolled in this study who were attended in gynaecological OPD. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was collected regarding menstrual cycle, knowledge about menstruation, practices during menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Data entry and analysis was carried out in Microsoft excel and analysis done by using frequency.Results: All participants were doing schooling, most of them they have done their high school study (47.5%) and 52.5% of adolescent girls were attend...
International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2018
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 th...
IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences, 2013
Menstrual hygiene is an issue that is insufficiently acknowledged. Menstruation and menstrual practices are still clouded by taboos and socio-cultural restrictions resulting in adolescent girls remaining ignorant of the scientific facts and hygienic health practices, which sometimes result into adverse health outcomes. The present study was designed to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and source of information regarding menstruation among the adolescent school girls of the secondary school and also to identify the status of menstrual hygiene among them. A descriptive, cross-sectional community based study was conducted among 147 adolescent girls of a secondary school situated in the urban field practice area of dept of Community Medicine Medical College Kolkata with the help of a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. Out of 147 respondents, 62(42 %) girls were aware about menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. Hand-washing was regular among 91.8% but 16.3% washed only with water. Similarly washing of private parts were regular among 76.9% but 74.1% used only water no soap, there is significant relationship between hygienic practices followed and presence of continuous supply of water and presence of exclusive toilet of their family. Except for 2(1.3%) everybody followed some taboo or unnecessary restriction. Menstrual hygiene, a very important risk factor for reproductive tract infections (RTI), is a vital aspect of health education. This problem, unfortunately, has not yet been addressed seriously in terms of its mental, social and health impact on the country.
Healthline, Journal of Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine, 2015
In the developing country like India, females are facing many menstruation related health problems, which are significant causes of morbidity, hampering daily life. Improper menstrual hygiene practices predispose the females towards many communicable diseases. The knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding menstrual hygiene, which establish at adolescent age, are usually followed by them throughout life and also passed on to the next generation. 1. To detect the menstrual health problems 2. To assess menstrual hygiene practices 3. To assess the restrictions in daily activities considered appropriate by the adolescents. Current cross sectional study was conducted at Kheda district of Gujarat State, India. The sampling was done using multi stage sampling technique. The sample included 400 adolescent girls of 14 to 17 years of age. Considering the dropout rate, 30% sample was constituted by non school going subjects and 70 % by school going subjects. 76(19%) participants had irregularity in menstruation. 103 (25.8%) participants had problem in doing daily activities whereas 112 (28%) participants had problem in doing specific activities like playing, exercise etc. 244 (61%) participants have used cloth while 156 (39%) used sanitary pad during last menstruation. As revealed by the study, the adolescent girls are facing various menstrual health problems like abdominal pain, menorrhagea, polymenorrhoea etc. They are unaware of proper disposal techniques of sanitary pad or other material used as absorbent.
Introduction: Menstruation is generally considered as unclean in the Indian society. Women having a better knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene and safe menstrual practices are less vulnerable to reproductive tract infections and its consequences. . Against this background, the present study was undertaken to explore the level of knowledge, attitude, status of hygiene and practices regarding menstruation among adolescent school girls. Material &methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 440 school going adolescent girls. After taking informed consent, the data was collected through self-administered questionnaire prepared in Hindi language to the girls. Results: The mean age of menarche in school going adolescent girls was 12.7+1.00 years. Out of 440 girls studied 315(71.59) faced some problem during menstruation. 75% girls knew about menstrual cycle before their menarche. In most cases their first informant was their teacher. The study on the practices during menstruation showed that 378(85.92%) girls used sanitary pads during menstruation, 13(2.95%) girls used old cloth pieces. Age, Number of family members, Mother’s education and Awareness about menstruation before menarche were significantly associated with good menstrual hygiene. Conclusion: The study showed that for more number of girls first informant about menstruation was their teachers and mothers. Different restrictions were practiced by most of the girls in the present study.
A study of menstrual hygiene management in urban and rural adolescent girls in Ambala (Haryana)
Indian Journal of Community Health
Background: Adolescent girls often lack knowledge regarding reproductive health including menstruation hygiene. Poor menstrual hygiene can be a precursor reproductive tract infections and even cancer cervix. Objectives: To study the menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban school going adolescent girls Material and Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 420 adolescent girls (10 - 19 years). A self-designed semi- structured questionnaire was used to study the knowledge and practise regarding menstrual hygiene. Results: Knowledge about menstruation before attainment of menarche was 69% in urban and 58.9% in rural. Mother was the main source of information. Still 23.6% girls were using cloth or towels as menstrual absorbent, and 26.6% girls in rural area were washing their menstrual absorbent to be reused.91.7% and 81% girls had some restriction during menstruation Conclusion: Awareness in urban adolescent girls was more in comparison to rural g...
The Pharma Innovation Journal, 2017
Background: Adolescence is a transition period from childhood to adulthood. In this period one of the major physiological changes that takes place in the adolescent girls, is the onset of menstruation. So good menstrual hygiene is very crucial for the health and dignity of girls and women. Aim and objective: The present study was aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of selected Government college of parade, Jammu. Material and Method: The sample consisted of 50 adolescent girls. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. Socio-demographic profile and Self Structured Questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. Conclusion: The study showed that the knowledge among adolescent girls was average and practices used them were satisfactory. Therefore, it was concluded that there is more need to increase knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene and mak...
International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health
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 of...
2012
Background: Adolescents are often less informed, less experienced, and less comfortable accessing reproductive health information and services than adults. In many developing countries, a culture of silence surrounds the topic of menstruation and related issues; as a result many young girls lack appropriate and sufficient information regarding menstrual hygiene. This may result in incorrect and unhealthy behaviour during their menstrual period. Objectives: To assess and compare knowledge, belief, ideas, source of knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene between school-going adolescents in an urban and a rural school of West Bengal, India. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among adolescent female students of Howrah district of West Bengal, India in the year 2011. Data was collected by pre-designed, pre-tested semi-structured self administered questionnaire. Results: The mean age at menarche was 12.1 years among urban and 12.2 years among the rural participants. More than 80% participants had some restrictions imposed during menstruation. Significantly higher number of urban girls had premenarchal knowledge on menstruation and used sanitary napkins. Conclusions: Menstrual hygiene is a vital aspect of health education for adolescent girls. For improvement of menstrual hygiene, sanitary napkins should be made universally available and affordable.
International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 2015
Background: Hygiene practices of women during menstruation are of importance as it has health impacts in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infection. Proper menstrual hygiene, correct perception and belief protect women folk from this suffering. This study is aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, social practices during menstruation among adolescent secondary schoolgirls. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was undertaken among 150 adolescent school going girls by using provisional sampling in Thiruporur, India. Required data was collected through a pre-tested questionnaire during the study period and simple frequencies and comparative percentages were used to analyze the results. Results: Only 18.67% of adolescent girls had knowledge about menstruation before menarche. As high as 67% of them did not know the cause of menstruation. 23.33% of the girls believed that menstrual bleed comes from the same pathway from which urine comes. Nearly all girls (96.67%) reported sanitary pad usage during the duration of mensuration. Two-third (66%) of the girls were secluded during menstruation and majority (81.3%) were restricted to attend school. Conclusions: Though knowledge among the participant girls regarding mensuration and menstrual hygiene was not adequate, it was satisfactory to find that the sanitary pad usage among the sample was 100% due to government services which are provided free of cost. Definitely, it will improve the menstrual status of the girls from cloth to a safer sanitary absorbent usage.