A study on the knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene among the adolescent girls of Nagaon, Barpeta District, Assam

Abstract

Background: The onset of menstruation is an important event in a woman’s lifecycle. It is associated with taboos and sociocultural restrictions. Faulty hygienic practices increase the risk of reproductive tract infections (RTI), leading to further complications if left untreated. With this background, the study was planned to assess adolescent school girls’ knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene as well as their practices of menstrual hygiene. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Nagaon, Barpeta district, Assam, among 170 adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years, using a convenient sampling technique. A predesigned, pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the information from the study participants. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 17 and the results were expressed in percentages. Results: The study reveals that 91.76% of the adolescents knew that menstruation was normal. About 27.65% of the study participants did not know the cause of menstruation, and 54.12% did not know about the source of menstrual bleeding. Only 33.53% knew that uterus is the source of bleeding. About 61.76% of the study participants knew about the duration of a normal menstrual period. Regarding practices, 74.12% of the adolescents use sanitary pads during menstruation, 18.82% use cloth, and 7.06% use both cloth and sanitary pads. In about 63.53%, the method of disposal of used absorbent was throwing with domestic waste. Conclusion: The current study has revealed that menstruation and menstrual hygiene knowledge is poor among adolescent girls and practices regarding menstrual hygiene are not optimal.

Exploring the dynamics of menstrual health and hygiene management among adolescent girls in rural schools of Mysuru district, Karnataka

“…In this study, 51.6% had knowledge about menstruation at menarche and 48.4% did not know anything about menstruation. Our results are in contrast with the study conducted by Boruah et al, where 28.4% had prior knowledge and 13.8% of the girls knew about menses in a study conducted by Reddy et al 4,7 Higher prevalence of 57.9% and 60.53%, regarding information on menstruation was found in the study by Shanbhag et al and Hagawane et al respectively. 8,9 High knowledge in our study could be due to a session held by medical officer of primary health centre (PHC) in a school on Menstrual health.…”

“…In a study conducted in Assam, 91.76% of the study participants knew that menstruation is a normal process. 4 17 participants in our study disagreed with the statements 'menstruation is a taboo, if someone is menstruating, they are unclean and its uncomfortable to talk about menstruation' respectively.…”

“…The mean age of menarche was 12.74 years and our result is comparable with the study conducted in assam by Boruah et al, where mean age was 13 years and a study by Khanna et al, in Rajasthan was 13.2 years. 4,5 In a study conducted in rural North Karnataka by Patil, the mean age of menarche was found to be 13.45 years. 6 In the present study, 69.9% and 30.1% of the girls had regular and irregular menses.…”

“…Similar result was found in a study, where 74.12% of the adolescents used sanitary pads, and 18.82% used cloth as absorbent. 4 Total 25.5% flush the menstrual material in the toilet as a disposal method while 34% wrap the material in paper & throw it in dustbin. Similar results were found in a study Boruah et al and Hagawane et al 4,9 Whereas and Thakre et al and Barathalakshmi et al found that burying was the most common method followed by disposal along with domestic wastes.…”

“…4 Total 25.5% flush the menstrual material in the toilet as a disposal method while 34% wrap the material in paper & throw it in dustbin. Similar results were found in a study Boruah et al and Hagawane et al 4,9 Whereas and Thakre et al and Barathalakshmi et al found that burying was the most common method followed by disposal along with domestic wastes. 10 In our study, 41.8% changes the material thrice a day and 33.3% twice a day.…”