Perception of Menstruation among Adolescent Secondary School Girls in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria: An Implication For Sexual Health Education for Secondary School Girls

Abstract

This study is a comparative interventional study which examined the effect of Information Education and Communication (IEC) on the perception of menstruation among adolescence secondary school girls in Akwa Ibom State, South- South, Nigeria. Adolescents’ perception of menstruation was assessed based on how they perceive the importance of menstrual knowledge, attitude to menstrual problems and menstrual problems that require treatment. Sample size of 600 adolescent females, 300 from rural and 300 from urban areas were selected from a population of 431,293 adolescent females by multi-stage sampling technique. Randomization was done with the use of table of random numbers. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyse categorical variables and descriptive statistics were computed for continuous variables. chi- square test wasused to determine association between socio- demographics of the respondents and their perception of menstruation. The effect of this intervention was evaluated after three months and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 20.0) was used to enhance data analysis. Statistical significance was tested at 0.05 level and p