Abstract

Menstruation is accompanied by a cultural taboo in almost every society in the world. This indicates an urgency to investigate girls, menstrual needs, to inform effective responses and educate them about the right strategies of menstrual hygiene, attitudes and practices. The aim of our study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices about menstrual hygiene among adolescent school girls from rural areas of Central India. Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among secondary schools and high school girls of rural area of central India, using predesigned questionnaire after obtaining informed consent. Questionnaire was based on Knowledge, attitude and practice related to menstrual hygiene. Results: In our study, total of 130 adolescent school girls was enrolled; most of the students had attained menarche by 12yrs of age. 86.15% were lacking primary knowledge about menstruation, and 80% of our participants had good knowledge about cleanliness of undergarments, and 65% of students knew that menstruation was a physiological phenomenon and 71% of the participants, still believed in the taboos and myths associated with menses and 30% were shy about carrying sanitary products to school. 63.85% participants still used cloth and most worrisome finding of our study is that 63% of our students did not feel comfortable to approach their family/elders/health care workers to solve their queries about menstruation. Conclusions: The low level of knowledge among participants is evident from their unpreparedness while entering menarche and their strong views of menstruation as social taboo can be judged from their various restrictions, owing to such strong socio-cultural beliefs and practices. Group discussions, media campaigns, sex education in schools are required to overcome taboo associated with menstruation.

Description

.