CHANGE IN KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES REGARDING MENSTRUATION IN ADOLESCENT GIRLS OF THE TRIBAL REGION OF WESTERN MAHARASHTRA
Main Article Content
Keywords
Menstrual Hygiene Management, Tribal Maharashtra, Menstrual Practices, Adolescent girls
Abstract
Background: India has over 355 million menstruating women and girls, but millions of them across the country face bad experiences with Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM)3.
Materials and Methods: This was a Descriptive Longitudinal study with a study duration of 6 months. This study was conducted in a School in Bhandardara and the Department of Community Medicine, Dr. BVP Rural Medical College, Loni.
Results: A total of 44 students participated in the workshop. The mean age of the students was 13.98 ± 1.35 years. The mean age of menarche of study participants was 12.69 ± 1.05 years. There was a statistically significant improvement in the knowledge of the participants post-workshop regarding the ideal time for changing the napkin/cloth (p value 0.04), disposal method of used sanitary products (p value <0.0001), anatomy of the female reproductive system (p value <0.0001), and source of menstrual blood. (p value 0.0004). There was a statistically significant difference in the menstrual hygiene practice scores of the participants before and after the workshop (p-value < 0.0001).
Conclusion: The pretest knowledge and practice of the study participants regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices were generally poor, and the workshop resulted in a substantial improvement in these areas.
References
2. M S Gottschalk, A Eskiled, S Hofvind, J M Gran, E K Bjelland. Temporal trends in age at menarche and age at menopause: a population study of 312 656 women in Norway. Human Reproduction. February 2020;35(2):464-471.
3. Sharma S, Mehra D, Brusselaers N, Mehra S. Menstrual Hygiene Preparedness Among Schools in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of System-and Policy-Level Actions. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jan 19;17(2):647
4. Dasgupta A, Sarkar M. Menstrual hygiene: How hygienic is the adolescent girl? Indian J Community Med. 2008;33:77-80.
5. Mudey AB, Keshwarni N, Mudey GA, Goyal RC. A cross-sectional study on the awareness regarding safe and hygienic practices amongst school going adolescent girls in the rural areas of Wardha District, India. Global Journal of Health Science. 2010;2(2):225-31.
6. Bhatia JC, Cleland J. Self-reported symptoms of gynecological morbidity and their treatment in South India. Stud Fam Plann. 1995;26(4):203-16.
7. Bathija GV, Bant DD, Itagimath SR. Study on usage of woman hygiene kit among menstruating age group in field practice area of KIMS, Hubli. Int Jour of Biomed Res. 2013;4(2):94-98.
8. Kaur R, Kaur K, Kaur R. Menstrual hygiene, management, and waste disposal: Practices and challenges faced by girls/women of developing countries, Hindawi. Journal of Environmental and Public Health. 2018;2018:1730964.
9. Global incidence and prevalence of selected curable sexually transmitted infections– 2008 [Internet] World Health Organization. World Health Organization. 2014. Available from: https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/ rtis/stisestimates/en.
10. Sri Devi B, Swarnalatha N. Prevalence of RTI/STI among reproductive age women (15-49 years) in urban slums of Tirupati Town, Andhra Pradesh. Health Popul Perspect Issues. 2007;30:56-70.
11. Aishwarya Upadhyay, Menstrual Hygiene Day Facts: Only 36 Percent Of The Women In India Use Sanitary Pads During Periods, [Internet], NDTV Banega swastha India;May28 2019. Available from URL: https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/menstrual-hygiene-day-facts-26-percent-use-sanitary-pads-periods-34309/. [accessed on 16/01/21].
12. . Government Of India Ministry Of Human Resource Development Department Of School Education & Literacy Statistics Division New Delhi, [Internet] Educational Statistics at a Glance;2018. Available from URL: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/ESAG-2018.
13. Amirtha G, Premarajan KC, Sarkar S, Lakshmi Narayanan S. Menstrual healthknowledge, practices and needs of adolescent school girls in Pondicherry. Indian Journal of Maternal and Child Health. 2013;15(1):4.
14. Dixit S, Raghunath D, Rokade R, Nawaz SA, Nagdeve T, Goyal I. Awareness about menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls in central India. National Journal of Community Medicine. 2016;7(6):468-73.
15. Paria, Baishakhi, Agnihotri Bhattacharyya, and Sukes Das. A Comparative Study on Menstrual Hygiene among Ur ban and Rural Adolescent Girls of West Bengal. J Family Med Prim Care 2014 Oct-Dec; 3(4): 413–417.
16. Thakre SB, Thakre SS, Reddy M, Rathi N, Pathak K, Ughade S. Menstrual hygiene: Knowledge and practice among adolescent school girls of Saoner, Nagpur district. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research 2011 October, Vol-5(5): 1027-1033.
17. El-Gilany AH, Badwi K, El-Fedawy S. Menstrual hygiene among adolescent schoolgirls in Mansoura, Egypt. Reproductive health matters 2005; 13(26):147–52
18. Juyal, R., Kandpal, S., Semwal, J., & Negi, K. Practices Of Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescent Girls in a District of Uttarakhand. Indian Journal of Community Health 2012; 24(2):124-128.
19. Phulambrikar RM, Kharde AL, Mahavarakar VN, Phalke DB, Phalke VD. Effectiveness of interventional reproductive and sexual health education among school going adolescent girls in rural area. Indian J Community Med 2019;44:378-82.
20. Khanna A, Goyal RS, Bhawsar R. Menstrual practices and reproductive problems: A study of adolescent girls in Rajasthan. Journal of Health Management 2005; 7(1):91-97.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in JPTCP are licensed under Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Dr Varsha N Mahavarakar
Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, ASPL's CSMSS Medical College and Hospital, Limbejalgaon, Maharashtra, India.
Dr Vaishali D Phalke
Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, Rural Medical College, Loni, Maharashtra, India
Dr Norma Bhanat
Assistant Professor, Community Medicine Department, Dr M. K. Shah Medical College and Research Centre, SMS Hospital, Chandkheda, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Dr Rutuja M Phulambrikar
Consultant, Research and Statistics Solutions
Dr Shivam Raj
Senior Resident, Department of Community Medicine, Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, Rural Medical College, Loni, Maharashtra, India.
Dr Monika Saha
Medical officer, Critical Care Medicine, DESUN Hospitals, Kolkata, West Bengal, India