Impact of Mode of Delivery on Menstrual Hygiene in Postpartum Period

Background: Menstruation is a natural physiological process, yet many adolescent girls in India lack adequate knowledge and face challenges in managing menstrual hygiene. Inadequate menstrual hygiene practices can lead to reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and other health issues. This study aimed to explore menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices among high school girls in urban central India, contributing to the understanding of current status of menstrual hygiene management in this region. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1160 high school girls (grades 9th to 12th) in three government schools in an urban region of central India. The participants were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire assessing their knowledge and practices related to menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression to identify predictors of menstrual knowledge and hygiene practices. Results: Of the 1160 participants, 52.5% exhibited good knowledge, while 42.1% demonstrated good menstrual hygiene practices. The majority (96.4%) used sanitary pads, but 35.9% did not change them at least three times a day, exposing them to potential health risks. Factors influencing good menstrual knowledge and hygiene practices included maternal education, age, family income and grade level. Conclusions: Despite a relatively high level of awareness about menstruation and hygiene, significant gaps remain in understanding menstrual biology and practicing optimal hygiene. Socio-economic factors and parental education play a critical role in improving menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices among adolescent girls.

Background: The periodic shedding of the lining of a woman’s uterus is referred to as Menstruation, or a menstrual period. Over a period of three to five days, the uterine lining breaks down into a bloody substance. It then passes down through the cervix and exits through the vagina. Menstrual health knowledge is regarded as having knowledge of what menstruation is and the need for effective management of health during menstruation and proper menstrual hygiene management. This study seeks to assess the knowledge and practice of menstrual health and hygiene and availability of resources for effective menstrual hygiene management among young people in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among 169 young males and females of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Theological Seminary, Jos, North, Plateau State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used in this study and data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0. Findings: Majority of 70 (41.4%) respondents fall within the age range of 20 - 24 years old, 64 (37.9%) were within 25 - 29 years. There were more females (96, 56.8%) than males (73, 43.2%). Twenty (11.8%) were married, 149 (88.2%) were single. More than three quarters (78.1%) had good knowledge of Menstrual Hygiene. Of this, 64.4% are males and 88.5% are females. 18.3% of respondents had fair knowledge. Of this, 30.1% are males and 9 (9.4%) are females. 6 (3.6%) of respondent’s had poor knowledge of menstrual hygiene (4 (5.5%) of males and 2 (92.1%)) of females). Two-thirds of the female respondents had good practice of menstrual hygiene, while a third of the respondents had the poor practice of menstrual hygiene. Conclusion: There was good knowledge and practice of menstruation and menstrual hygiene among young people. Knowledge influences practice and the perception of young people to sensitive concepts like menstrual health and hygiene management. Reproductive health programs that reflect this should be taught in schools and communities.

Introduction: Menstrual hygiene management includes the use and proper disposal of clean menstrual management materials during menstruation while dysmenorrhea is discomfort, pain, and cramps at the uterine origin during menstruation. Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the knowledge and practices of menstruation and menstrual hygiene, screening of dysmenorrhea among nursing students in IIUM Kuantan and the relationship between the selected socio- demographic with level of knowledge and practices of menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 undergraduate nursing students in IIUM Kuantan. The questionnaires distributed consisted mainly four parts which is socio- demographic data, the level of knowledge, practices of menstruation and menstrual hygiene and screening dysmenorrhea among the respondents. Results: The result highlighted that majority of nursing students (90.6%) have good knowledge, while (74.6%) students have good practices of menstrual hygiene. High percentage of dysmenorrhea was reported among the students (89.2%). There was a significant difference between year of study and practices of menstrual hygiene (p=0.033). Conclusion: The knowledge and practices of menstruation was good among nursing students in IIUM Kuantan. However, they need to improve in certain areas regarding knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene.

Introduction : Menstruation is still surrounded by many myths, misconceptions and taboos. Adolescent girls in India, seems to have inadequate and inaccurate knowledge on menstruation and its hygiene. Improper menstrual hygiene can lead to reproductive tract infections which can adversely affect a woman's reproductive health. This study was aimed at assessing the effectiveness of health education in improving the knowledge on menstruation and menstrual hygiene practice among rural adolescent girls of India. Method:An interventional study was done among 82 college girls selected by convenient sampling in a rural area of Tamilnadu, India. Intervention done was health education on menstrual physiology and hygiene practice using animated video and interactive session in local language. Questionnaire on knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene practice was administered to the participants before health education session. Improvement in knowledge and practice was assessed after one month of the session. Results: Baseline knowledge about menstruation was adequate only for 57.5 percent of participants. Baseline menstrual hygiene practice was good only among 8.8 percent of participants. Following health education, knowledge about menstruation significantly improved to 90%. Menstrual hygiene practice also showed a significant improvement from 8.8% to 30 percent%. Conclusion: This study showed that providing a comprehensive health education on menstrual physiology and hygiene would greatly improve the menstrual hygiene practice of adolescent girls.

In India, awareness about menstruation before menarche was low, and it is viewed as unclean or dirty in society. In adolescent girls who attained menstruation for the first time, menstrual hygiene management is constrained by social, practical and economic factors such as the expense of sanitary pads, lack of water facilities, lack of private rooms for changing sanitary pads, and limited education about the facts of menstrual hygiene. The practice of good menstrual hygiene reduces the incidence of reproductive tract infections. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of pharmacist mediated educational program on menstrual hygiene practice. An interventional study was carried out to assess the impact of menstrual hygiene practice on knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls in backward areas of Andhra Pradesh, India. A self-administered questionnaire comprises socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge related to menstruation and menstrual hygiene practice was used to collect data. The collected data was analyzed to assess the knowledge related to the menstrual hygiene practice, school attendance during the menstrual period at baseline and after providing education on menstrual hygiene. The present study reveals that 52.52% of the participants had good knowledge about menstrual hygiene. Pharmacist mediated educational program showed great improvement on the practice of menstrual hygiene such as the use of sanitary pads was improved from 40.42% to 93.38%. After educational program school dropouts was greatly declined from 55.32% to 7.33%. Pharmacist mediated program had a positive impact on menstrual hygiene practice, Government of India need to conduct more educational programs on menstrual hygiene management at a community level.

Menstruation is a normal physiological process in females, and a lack of knowledge and understanding about it can lead to unsafe hygienic practices. This study aimed to assess sociodemographic and menstrual factors that affect the knowledge, attitude and practices of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. This cross-sectional study was done among adolescent school girls in Eastern Uttar Pradesh for nine months using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. It consisted of five sections on sociodemographic, menstrual, knowledge, attitude and practice-related questions. Knowledge, attitude and practice-related questions scored one mark for each correct response. Those who scored >50% and ≤50% in each of the sections were categorised into acceptable and unacceptable. Data were analysed using SPSS version 20. The mean age at menarche was 13.11 (1.14) years. Acceptable scores in the knowledge, attitude and practice sections were obtained by 63.1%, 47.7% and 44.1% of girls, respectively. Living with parents and higher education of mothers was associated with acceptable menstrual hygiene knowledge, attitude and practices. Older age of girls and urban residences were associated with acceptable menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices. Girls with acceptable knowledge and those living in nuclear families had acceptable menstrual hygiene practices. Lower age, not living with parents, rural residence and mother's lower education were all significant predictors of poor menstrual hygiene practices. There is a need to develop awareness campaigns and programsfor adolescent girls to improve their menstrual hygiene practices.

Knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene significantly impacts women's health and it is often influenced by economic, cultural and religious factors. To assess knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene among the Kho and Kalash ethnic groups in Chitral, Pakistan. From May to September 2023, this cross-sectional study collected data on knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices from 415 Kho and 105 Kalash women in Pakistan. The data were analysed using SPSS version 22 and associations between the variable factors were analysed using chi-square test (P < 0.05). Respondents aged 14-20 years had better knowledge about menstruation than older adults and educated women were nearly 4 times more knowledgeable than illiterate women (49% vs 13%). Respondents with educated mothers had better knowledge about menstruation than those with illiterate mothers (52% vs 43%, P = 0.003). There was a significant difference in menstrual hygiene practices between Kalash and Kho women (P < 0.0001); Kalash women reported better practices than the Kho (90% vs 46%). The main sources of information about menstruation before menarche were friends (44%), mass media (21%) and elder sisters (13%). Knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene is poor among the study population, indicating the need for targeted interventions and policies to improve knowledge and hygiene practices, thereby improving menstrual health among the women.

BackgroundThe issue of menstrual hygiene is inadequately acknowledged and has not received proper attention. Use of sanitary pads and washing the genital area are essential practices to keep the menstrual hygiene. Unhygienic menstrual practices can affect the health of the girls and there is an increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infections and pelvic inflammatory diseases and other complications. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among high school girls at Nekemte town, Oromia region, Western Ethiopia.MethodA school based cross-sectional study design was employed in Nekemte Town, Western Ethiopia. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select 828 female high school students. Data collection was carried out from May 04 to May 30, 2014 using a pre- tested structured questionnaire. The data were entered into a computer using Epi-info version 3.5.1 and then exported to SPSS for Windows version 20.0 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done at 95 % confidence interval.ResultsIn this study, 504 (60.9 %) and 330 (39.9 %) respondents had good knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene respectively. The findings of the study showed a significant positive association between good knowledge of menstruation and educational status of mothers (AOR = 1.51, 95 % CI = 1.02 – 2.22), having radio/TV (AOR = 2.42, 95 % CI: 1.64 – 3.56). Educational status of the mother (AOR = 2.03, 95 % CI = 1.38 – 2.97) and earning permanent pocket money from parents (AOR = 2.73, 95 % CI = 1.76 – 4.26) revealed significant positive association with good practice of menstrual hygiene.ConclusionsThe findings showed that the knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene is low. Awareness regarding the need for information about good menstrual practices is very important. So, health education program should be setup to create awareness and practice of good menstrual hygiene.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12905-015-0245-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Menstrual hygiene is essential to ensure that one's everyday life is not interpreted by menstruation and to promote ones well being. A descriptive study to assess the knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among nursing students in a selected nursing college, Kanchipuram District, Tamil Nadu, was done. A descriptive study with a quantitative approach was used to assess the knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene. The study was conducted at selected nursing colleges in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. A convenient sampling technique was used to select 102 samples. The research tool consisted of a structured interview schedule to assess the demographic profile of the samples and structured questionnaires to assess the knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene. The study findings revealed that only 3% of the samples have adequate knowledge on menstrual hygiene (> 75% score), 27% of the samples have moderately adequate knowledge on menstrual hygiene (51–75% score) and 70% have inadequate knowledge on menstrual hygiene (< 50% score). The study also revealed that 50% of the samples have adequate practice of menstrual hygiene, 40% of the samples have moderately adequate practice and 10% of the samples have inadequate practice of menstrual hygiene. This study is taken up to assess level of awareness on menstrual hygiene and practice of menstrual hygiene among nursing students as they are responsible to educate the public and ensure that women in the reproductive age group are aware of the right practices related to menstrual hygiene thereby ensure normal reproductive health and well being.

Poor menstrual hygiene practices are one of the major public health problems in Nepal. Due to persistent taboos and socio-cultural constraints, adolescent girls are often unaware of scientific facts, knowledge, and practices related to menstrual hygiene. This paper aims to assess the effects of health education intervention on menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices among adolescent girls in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal. A true experimental study was conducted in two government basic schools in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal. The study population was adolescent girls who had attended the menarche. Firstly, a pretest with the help of a self-administered questionnaire was done to find out the socio-demographic information, knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene. Next, health education sessions were conducted among the intervention group. Finally, after one month of intervention, a post-test was conducted among the intervention and non-intervention group. Data analysis was done through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed significant improvement in the knowledge and practice level of adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene after health education intervention. Participants in the intervention group showed a significant increase in knowledge scores from 10.0% to 67.0%, while the non-intervention group remained unchanged at 7.5%. Good menstrual hygiene practices scores in the intervention group increased significantly from 22.5% to 67.0%, whereas the non-intervention group saw a slight rise from 20.0% to 22.5%. Regarding observed practice scores in menstrual hygiene, significant improvement was observed in the intervention group (45.0% to 100.0%) in contrast to the non-intervention group (25.0% to 27.5%). This study highlights the crucial role of school health education interventions in promoting menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. It emphasizes the importance of comprehensive educational programs tailored to early teenage girls, addressing timing, content, and delivery methods alongside ensuring the availability of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities.

BackgroundPoor menstrual hygiene practices are one of the major public health problems in Nepal. Due to persistent taboos and socio-cultural constraints, adolescent girls are often unaware of scientific facts, knowledge, and practices related to menstrual hygiene. This paper aims to assess the effects of health education intervention on menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices among adolescent girls in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal.Materials and methodsA true experimental study was conducted in two government basic schools in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal. The study population was adolescent girls who had attended the menarche. Firstly, a pretest with the help of a self-administered questionnaire was done to find out the socio-demographic information, knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene. Next, health education sessions were conducted among the intervention group. Finally, after one month of intervention, a post-test was conducted among the intervention and non-intervention group. Data analysis was done through descriptive and inferential statistics.ResultsThe findings showed significant improvement in the knowledge and practice level of adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene after health education intervention. Participants in the intervention group showed a significant increase in knowledge scores from 10.0% to 67.0%, while the non-intervention group remained unchanged at 7.5%. Good menstrual hygiene practices scores in the intervention group increased significantly from 22.5% to 67.0%, whereas the non-intervention group saw a slight rise from 20.0% to 22.5%. Regarding observed practice scores in menstrual hygiene, significant improvement was observed in the intervention group (45.0% to 100.0%) in contrast to the non-intervention group (25.0% to 27.5%).ConclusionsThis study highlights the crucial role of school health education interventions in promoting menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. It emphasizes the importance of comprehensive educational programs tailored to early teenage girls, addressing timing, content, and delivery methods alongside ensuring the availability of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities.

ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge and practices related to menstrual hygiene among adolescent schoolgirls in a flood-affected rural area of Bangladesh and identify the factors influencing their menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in northern Bangladesh between May 25 and June 1, 2023, involving 448 adolescent girls in the flood-affected region. Data was collected through a self-administered descriptive questionnaire. The collected data was entered and analyzed using SPSS 26.0 (IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to determine significant variables through multivariate binary logistic regression models.ResultsThe study found that more than half (69%) of the in-school adolescent girls had good knowledge about menstrual hygiene, while only one-fourth (28.6%) demonstrated good menstrual hygiene practices. Remarkably, only 1.6% of the girls disposed of their used sanitary napkins in dustbins. The results also indicated that girls aged 17 to 19 [AOR = 7.78, 95% CI: 1.83–32.99] and those from middle-class families [AOR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.31–0.85] showed a significant positive association with menstrual hygiene knowledge. Additionally, the study revealed that the respondents’ mothers’ education level, particularly having secondary or higher education [AOR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.04–2.77], was significantly associated with better menstrual hygiene practices.ConclusionsThe findings underscore the low level of menstrual hygiene practices among the respondents, emphasizing the urgent need for action. This highlights the urgency of enhancing awareness about the significance of adopting good menstrual hygiene practices. Therefore, it is imperative to incorporate menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices into school curricula and to organize meetings and sessions with schoolgirls’ parents, stressing the importance of community support in addressing this issue.

Access to clean water is important for menstrual hygiene practices, an important aspect of health for adolescent girls. In Bangladesh, adolescent girls represent poor menstrual hygiene practices, whereas the practice is worse among vulnerable population groups living in areas experiencing seasonal water scarcity. This study portrays perceived difficulties in menstrual hygiene practices among indigenous adolescent girls during the period of seasonal water scarcity in Bandarban Hill District, Bangladesh. Data was collected from 242 indigenous adolescent girls through interviews during the period of water scarcity. Backward stepwise regression model was used to identify factors associated with perceived difficulty in maintaining menstrual hygiene (PD) practices. The study participants, mainly living in hard-to-reach areas, reported difficulty in getting adequate water during the water scarcity period, and the quality of water was reported to be poor. PD due to water scarcity was found to be significantly associated with water source degradation (β=0.247, < 0.001), the need for boiling/purifying water before use for menstrual hygiene (β=0.203, p=0.005), and experience of water availability when it was necessary to maintain their optimal menstrual hygiene practice (β=0.449, p<0.001), time required to collect water (β=0.209, p<0.001), taking a bath every day (β=-0.228, p<0.001), and frequency of washing genitals per day (β=- 0.094, p=0.040). Indigenous adolescents perceive difficulty in menstrual hygiene practices during the period of water scarcity. Further research could be carried out to observe to what extent the seasonal water scarcity could be attributable to worsen the menstrual hygiene practices and to identify the need for addressing the problems.

Imparting right knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene to adolescent girls is very important to protect them from various reproductive tract infections and reproductive health. This cross sectional study was conducted in adolescent girls studying in Government School (GS) (n=50) and Private School (PS) (n=50) school (N=100) to know about the knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among the adolescent girls in Barugur, Tamil Nadu before and after an education program. Among the selected girls, 14 to 15 years old were 55 per cent. Hindus were more than 90 percent. Nearly 58 per cent of PS and 40 per cent of GS belonged to Class III of Prasad’s economic classification. PS had significantly more knowledge about menstrual hygiene and better practice before attending the education program and there was a significant improvement (P&gt;0.05) in the knowledge and practice of GS and PS after the program. Periodical conduct of many such education programs is essential for practice of proper menstrual hygiene by rural adolescent girls.

Background: A two-generation study on menstrual health and hygiene practices among daughters and their mothers is limited. In this study, the primary objective was to compare menstrual health practices, period poverty and menstrual hygiene practices between female college students and their mothers. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 female college students (mean age 19 years) and their mothers (n=500, mean age 41 years) in the Thoothukudi district. Five colleges were selected from the twenty colleges in the district using simple random sampling. From the list of students from the selected colleges, female students were selected using computer-generated random numbers and the mothers of all the selected students were included in the study. Information on menstrual health, period poverty and menstrual hygiene was collected using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. Results: Among daughters, 80.4% speak about menstrual pain more than mothers 44% (p&lt;0.001). Of the daughters, 46.2% and 19.8% of the mothers had information about menstruation before menarche (p&lt;0.001). Among daughters 63% and among mothers 30.2% are embarrassed about buying period products (p&lt;0.001). Sanitary pad use among daughters was 93.2% compared to 69.9% among mothers (p=0.001). Using cloth as their menstrual product was reported by 21.8% of daughters and 50.4% of mothers (p=0.001). Conclusions: During menstruation, daughters reported better hygiene practices than their mothers. However, some of the daughters still use clothes as menstrual material, which needs improvement.