What can Australian schools do better? Supporting students during menstruation

Abstract

Menstrual management is recognized as a critical issue for young people internationally. Relatively little published research explores issues pertaining to menstruation in school education. This paper is based on the results of an Australian survey of 5007 young women aged 13–25, which examined their experiences of menstruation and dysmenorrhea. It focuses specifically on participant qualitative responses to the question, “What do you think schools could do to better support girls during their period?” Six key themes were identified across responses. These related to sanitation; pain management; removing stigma; adequate breaks; and being considerate. The findings reported herein highlight some of the challenges menstruating young people encounter at school and give voice to their needs; these have important implications for school improvement in this area.

Indigenous Peoples’ Experience and Understanding of Menstrual and Gynecological Health in Australia, Canada and New Zealand: A Scoping Review

“…An interesting finding was that despite the Australian school curriculum including reproductive health topics, there still remained limited knowledge on this topic, irrespective of whether students were Indigenous or not, which highlights the need for an evaluation of the effectiveness of the current program to ensure these programs are designed to tackle these culturally specific issues [ 14 ]. Assessment of the quality and efficacy of the menstrual health education programs delivered within the Australian curriculum and programs provided by private educators should be performed to determine the effectiveness and awareness of menstrual health and associated gynecological disorders, as there is evidence to suggest that these are not meeting the needs of young people [ 62 ].…”