Abstract
Background Adolescent girls in developing countries do not have proper information, and proper information is covered up by sociocultural boundaries resulting in various morbidities. This study aimed to determine level of knowledge and its associated factors regarding menstrual hygiene amongst adolescent school girls in Dang district, Nepal. Methods Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted between April and October 2019 among 406 adolescent girls studying in grades 8–10 between ages of 10–19 years in Dang district, Nepal. From a total of 10 local units, 5 were selected randomly. Out of the selected 5 units, 10 schools consisting of 5 government and 5 private schools were selected through disproportionate stratified random sampling. A further 406 students were then selected randomly from the 10 selected schools. Bivariate analysis was used primarily to assess the association between dependent and independent variables. Variables which were associated with bivariate analysis were entered into a multivariable logistic regression model to identify associated factors of menstrual hygiene practice. Results The mean age and family size were 15.13 ± 1.19 and 5.58 ± 1.81, respectively. A total of 87.7% of adolescents had good knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene. Adolescents living in rural area (AOR = 0.27, CI: 0.12–0.61, p ≤ 0.001), private schools (AOR = 6.10, CI: 1.58–23.46, p ≤ 0.001), mothers who can read and write (AOR = 0.22, CI: 0.07–0.64, p ≤ 0.001), fathers who have up-to-grade-10 education (AOR = 5.15, CI: 1.84–14.39, p ≤ 0.001), and living only with mothers (AOR = 0.29, CI: 0.12–0.69, p ≤ 0.018) were significantly associated with level of knowledge of menstrual hygiene. Conclusions Though the majority of respondents had a good level of knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene, there was a knowledge gap in specific areas. The level of knowledge was significantly poor among adolescents in rural areas and those living only with mothers. Thus, this study concerns the need for policy makers to focus on specific education regarding menstrual hygiene in rural areas including both parents.
Highlights
Menstruation is a normal phenomenon among grown females who experience flaking of blood for one to seven days every month from the age of menarche to menopause [1]
Social taboos and misconceptions on the subject of menstruating girls and menstrual hygiene develop in gender inequality and degradation of women empowerment [23]. ough menstruation is a normal body function for females, handling it is considered a major challenge for every adolescent girl [24]
As a result of this, the present study aims to determine different factors associated with knowledge level regarding menstruation hygiene among school-going adolescent girls in Dang district, Nepal
Summary
Menstruation is a normal phenomenon among grown females who experience flaking of blood for one to seven days every month from the age of menarche to menopause [1]. Adolescent girls especially in rural and tribal communities do face many complications to obtain the right kind of information even from their parents due to social and cultural stigma and exclusions [16, 17]. Due to these taboos and sociocultural and religious restrictions, girls remain unaware of scientific facts and hygienic practice that may cause harmful health outcomes [9, 18]. As a result of this, the present study aims to determine different factors associated with knowledge level regarding menstruation hygiene among school-going adolescent girls in Dang district, Nepal
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