Menstrual hygiene and practices among adolescent girls in rural Visakhapatnam: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Background: Adolescent girls constitute 1/5th of total female population in the world. Poor personal hygiene and defective menstrual management practices among adolescents give rise to repeated reproductive tract infections (RTIs) which are otherwise preventable. So the present study was undertaken to study the knowledge, status of hygiene and practices regarding menstruation among adolescent girls. The objectives of the study were to study the knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene among study population and to identify beliefs, perception regarding menstruation and menstrual practices among the study population.Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in the month of November 2017 in the rural field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. The study was done in a high school selected by simple random sampling among 400 adolescent girls who had attained menarche and were present in the schools during the days of survey after obtaining Institutional Ethics Committee approval, permission from the school authority and informed consent was taken from study participants. The sample size was calculated Using 4PQ/L2 with 5% absolute precision (p=36% from previous studies).Results: Mean age of study participants was 14.2yrs ±1.05. About 206(48.4%) knew about menstrual cycle before their menarche. Majority of study participants (78.3%) used sanitary pad as protective material. Regarding hygienic practices during menstruation 78.8% had daily bath.Conclusions: Awareness about menarche before its onset was still poor in rural areas.