Knowledge and attitude regarding puberty attainment and menstrual hygiene among pre-adolescent girls

Abstract

Background:The transition to adulthood is a critical stage of human development during which young people live childhood behind and take on new roles and responsibilities. It is period of social, psychological, economical and biological transitions and for many young people it involves demanding emotional challenges. It is the period of development of secondary sexual characteristics. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitude of pre adolescent girls regarding puberty attainment and menstrual hygiene, To find out the correlation between knowledge and attitude scores of pre adolescent girls regarding puberty attainment and menstrual hygiene and to find the association between the levels of knowledge and attitude scores of pre adolescent girls and selected demographic variables. Methodology: A quantitative approach with exploratory co-relational survey design was adopted for the study. The samples from the selected high schools of Dharwad were selected using convenient sampling technique. The sample consisted of 60 pre adolescent girls. The tools used for data collection was knowledge questionnaire and structured attitude scale. Results:The study result reveal that, With respect to knowledge scores, maximum 37(61.7%) respondents were having average knowledge, 15 (25%) respondents were having poor knowledge and remaining 8(13.3%) of respondents were having good knowledge and with respect to attitude majority 25(58.3%) respondents were having non favorable attitude, 20(33.3%) of respondents were having favorable attitude and remaining 5(8.3%) were having positive attitude. The correlation between knowledge and attitude scores is found not significant at p<0.05 levels. Conclusion:There is a need for the education for the pre adolescents students for the prevention of complications related to puberty attainment like anemia, menstrual hygiene etc.