Secondary school girls knowledge and practice about menstruation and menstrual hygiene in Assiut

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to assess secondary school girls, knowledge about menstruation and its hygiene and their practices and habits during menstruation. This was carried out in the form of questionnaires on200 randomly selected secondary school girls aged 15 to 17 years from all governmental and private secondary schools of Assyut. The study showed that girls had limited information about anatomy and physiology of female genital tract, menstruation and menstrual hygiene. About three fifths of students do not got haemorrhage. To get rid of menstrual pain, nearly one third of students use pharmacological agents; half of them take analgesics and the other half antispasmodics; while the majority drink fluids. Different house hold activities and visits were avoided and nearly one fifth reported that they do not study their lessons during menstruation. The mothers' education did not effectively influence the amount of girls' knowledge about the anatomy of female genital tract, menstruation and menstrual hygiene. However, mothers' education influenced positively their girls practices. The mother was found to be the primary source of information to her daughter, while few students received their information from their teachers at school, their sisters, friends and magazines. These results are discussed