Abstract
Introduction: Knowledge regarding physiology of menstruation and hygienic practices are poor in adolescent girls. Deep rooted social beliefs make their attitude more negative.Material and Methods: In a hospital based cross sectional study, one hundred adolescent girls who have attained menarche were interviewed with a pre-validated semi-structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge, experiences, effect of mother’s education on menstrual hygienic practices and factors affecting their positive and negative attitude.Results: Mean age of menarche was 13.28 (SD ± 1.42) years. Mothers were the first informant to 56% girls. Only 11% girls knew that menstruation is a normal biological phenomenon and 28% girls were mentally prepared before menarche. Readymade pads were being used by 46% girls. Most girls were forced to follow various restrictions during menstruation. Maternal education was significantly associated with use of readymade pads (p-value 0.031). Significant positive correlation was seen between premenarchal preparedness to pleasantness (r = 0.3215; p = 0.001) while negative correlation was found between preparedness to secrecy (r = -0.1549; p = 0.124), annoyance (r = -0.1421; p = 0.158) and worrying thoughts (r = - 0.2074; p = 0.038). Negative correlation was also seen between years of experience with menses to secrecy and worrying thought (r = -0.0162; p = 0.872 and r = -0.1033; p = 0.864 respectively).Conclusion: There is significant lack of knowledge, poor hygienic practices and negative attitude among adolescent girls that needs to be addressed by educating them and their mothers.J Nepal Paediatr Soc 2016;36(1):42-49
Highlights
IntroductionAdolescence has been recognized as a special period which denotes the transition from childhood to adulthood
Knowledge regarding physiology of menstruation and hygienic practices are poor in adolescent girls
Girls mostly receive incomplete and inaccurate informations regarding menstruation and their response to menarche depend on degree of physical discomfort they face during menstruation[3]
Summary
Adolescence has been recognized as a special period which denotes the transition from childhood to adulthood. Either positive or negative, depends on preparedness of pre-pubescent girls and influenced by socio-cultural environment[1]. It depends upon awareness, age at menarche, cycle length, intensity and duration of menstrual flow[2]. Thakre et al in their study concluded that a variety of factors are known to affect menstrual behaviors, the most influential being economic and residential status (urban and rural)[6] This was a cross sectional study with an aim to assess the attitude, gaps in the knowledge, beliefs and hygienic practices with respect to menstruation among adolescent girls attending a tertiary care teaching hospital for their various medical problems
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
