Menstruation: a cross-sectional study on knowledge, belief, and practices among adolescent girls of junior colleges, Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

this period produce long-lasting effects for individual and public health and, in various ways, a nation's future lies in the strength and objectives of its youth population. [1] Nearly, in 500 BC, Sushruta Samhita noted that Indian girls commenced to menstruate at the age of 12 years. The importance of menstruation and menarche can be gauged by writing in Mahabharata that, "Each time an unwedded maiden has her monthly course, her parents or guardians are guilty of heinous crime of slaying the embryo." Therefore, the father tried to find a husband for his daughter as early as possible after the commencement of menstruation. [2] The main physiological development that occurs in adolescent girls is the beginning of menarche. After that, many girls face problems of irregular menstruation, excessive bleeding, and dysmenorrhea, interrupting their educational and social lives. [3] Numerous psychological and social responses arise as a result of menarche and menstruation in them. More Background: Awareness about reproductive health, inclusive of menstruation hygiene, is generally lacking in adolescent girls because of sociocultural barricades in which they grow up. Objective: To study the knowledge, practices, and sources of data pertaining to menstruation and hygiene among adolescent girls in Kuppam,

Knowledge, attitude and practice related to reproductive health among female adolescents

“…[29] The present study showed that 91.7% of female adolescents gave correct answers about the cause of menstruation as a normal sign of growth and puberty, while only 8.3% girls did not know the cause of menstruation. This finding is similar to the study results of Savanthe et al, who reported that most of the students (86%) understand that menstruation is normal phenomenon [28] and another finding by Das et al (2016) in a study conducted among high school girls in Vadodara city, wherein 70% identified that menstruation is a normal process. However, the findings of another study are consistent with the current results as it reported that 70% of the girls thought that menstruation is an unnatural process.…”

“…[26,27] In the present study, the majority (88.3%) of the students females being menstruated between age of 11 to less than 15 years old, and about two-thirds had regular cycles, which coincide with the studies conducted in India by Savanthe et al (2016) and Kamath et al (2013). [14,28] In the same context, abdominal pain followed by back pain was found to be the most frequent complaint during menstruation among the students in the present study, which is similar to the results reported by Savanthe et al [27] Regarding knowledge about puberty and menstruation, the results of the current study revealed that more than half of the female adolescents had correct knowledge about the signs of sexual maturation in females such as breast development, pubic hair development, menstruation, increase in height and weight, which may be due to the information they achieved in courses on religion and biology. This is in line with a study conducted in Baghdad City, which reported that half of the adolescent girls had good awareness about pubertal changes (primary sex characteristics, attaining sexual maturity, onset of menstruation and pubic hair).…”

“…The same results were reported by other studies. [28] Incorrect hygiene practices were common; 68.6% of female adolescents used soap or shampoo for cleaning the external genitalia in the current study. This is consistent with a study by Sreedhar et al who reported soap and water were the most common materials used by girls (82.2%) for cleaning the external genitalia.…”

“…[29] This coincides with the findings of the present study; 69.7% of the adolescents had correct knowledge that the source of menstrual blood source is the uterus, while it is inconsistent with the finding of Savanthe et al's study (2016). [28] Moreover, Bhattacharjee et al (2013) reported that approximately one-third of their sample correctly identified the source of menstrual blood (30%). [31] This study reported that information regarding different aspects of menstruation was obtained from various resources such as mothers, relatives, media (TV or Internet), which is similar to the results found by Dasgupta et al (2008) in a study conducted in Kolkata.…”

Mental Wellbeing and Self-reported Symptoms of Reproductive Tract Infections among Girls

“…It is commonly associated with misconceptions, malpractices and health challenges among girls in developing countries (Bosch 2005;Benjet and Hernandez-Guzman 2001;Savanthe and Nanjundappa 2016). The physiological, mental and social effects of menarche are partly abrupt and partly start to influence a girl's health status gradually (Apter 1980).…”