Abstract
BackgroundThe last decade has highlighted how menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a public health issue because of its link to health, education, social justice and human rights. However, measurement of MHM has not been validated across different studies. The objective of this manuscript was to test the psychometric properties of a MHM scale.MethodsAn embedded mixed-method design was utilized. The girls (age 12–19) were from three districts of Uttar Pradesh (Mirzapur, Jaunpur and Sonebhadra), India. A total of 2212 girls participated in the structured questionnaire. Trained interviewers collected the data on tablets using computer assisted personal interviewing. A total of 36 FGDs were conducted among 309 girls between. Trained moderators collected the data. Factor analysis and thematic analysis was conducted to analyze and triangulate the data.ResultsMore than 90% of the girls were from a marginalized caste. Overall, 28% of the girls practiced all six MHM behaviors adequately. The factor analysis found five separate constructs corresponding to menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) with a variation of 84% and eigenvalue of 1.7. Preparation of clean absorbent, storage of clean absorbent, frequency of changing and disposal loaded separately, corresponding to menstrual health. Privacy to change and hygiene loaded together (eigenvalue 0.91 each), corresponding to hygiene management. An underlying theme from the FGD was menstruation as a taboo and lack of privacy for changing the absorbent.ConclusionMHM is multi-dimensional construct comprising of behaviors which were time-bound by menstruation (menstrual health) and behaviors not time-bound by menstruation (hygiene management). Based on these results, the author recommends that MHHM is used as an acronym in the future and proposes a revised definition for MHHM.
Highlights
The last decade has highlighted how menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a public health issue because of its link to health, education, social justice and human rights
MHM is defined as the “use of clean menstrual management material to absorb or collect blood that can be changed in privacy as often as necessary for the duration of the menstruation period, using soap and water for washing the body as required and having access to facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials” [3, 4]
Thirty four percent of the adolescent girls were from Jaunpur and Sonebhadra, each and 31.39% were from Mirzapur
Summary
The last decade has highlighted how menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a public health issue because of its link to health, education, social justice and human rights. Measurement of MHM has not been validated across different studies. The objective of this manuscript was to test the psychometric properties of a MHM scale. The last decade has highlighted how menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a public health issue because of its link to health, education, social justice and human rights [1, 2]. MHM was brought to the public health agenda in order to decrease the gender inequality in education and to keep adolescent girls at school. Adolescent girls around the world have reported feeling ashamed and afraid once they start menarche. This feeling lowers their self-confidence and decreases their decision making power regarding sexual and reproductive health [5]. Research in South Asia has shown that schools’ lack of adequate water and sanitation facilities affects the ability of adolescent girls to meet their MHM needs with dignity [6,7,8]
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