Awareness and practices regarding menarche in adolescent school going girls of Thrissur educational district

ABSTRACT

Background: Menarche is one important milestone in during adolescence. Many of girls experience menarche even before they are considered as adolescents. Unfortunately, many parents do not provide adequate information to the girls prior to menarche, because they consider it culturally inappropriate.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 432 adolescent girls in high school classes of Thrissur educational district. The participants were selected from six schools, two each of government, private and aided schools. A Self-Administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection after validation by pilot study. Data was collected on socio-demographic variables and awareness and practices regarding menarche Statistical analysis was done using SPSS statistical software version 23.Results: The age of attaining menarche ranged 7 to 14 years, with the mean age being 12.06 years SD=0.972.More than one-fourth of the girls 28.7% did not have prior knowledge about menstruation at the time of menarche. The major source of information about menstruation was the mother 68.8%, followed by friends 19.2%. Majority 61.3% of the subjects had correct knowledge regarding the cause of menstruation. More than half of the respondents 53.7% missed school days during menarche.Conclusions: The knowledge regarding menstruation was good for adolescent girls when compared to other studies in India. Awareness programs on adolescent girls must be developed and promoted at an early age prior to menarche. Mothers should be educated as they are an important source of information to their daughters.