Explorative Study to Assess the Nutritional Status, Socio-cultural Practices, and the Level of Stress during Menstrual Period among Adolescent Girls

The present study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status, socio-cultural practices and the level of stress during menstrual period among adolescent girls. The sample for the study comprised of 60 adolescent girls in the age group of 17–20 years. Simple random sampling by using lottery method was used for selection of the samples. Interview technique was used for collecting the 24 hr recall method regarding nutrient intake, semi-structured questionnaire to obtain information regarding dietary pattern, 5 point Likert scale for Socio-cultural practices and modified stress scale to assess the level of stress during menstrual period. The results revealed that study sample (78.3%) were undernourished and 65% of the samples had moderate menstrual problems. The highest percentage of the samples followed moderate level of cultural practices (55.5%) and suffered from stress (83.3%). All the samples reported that these cultural practices are followed without questioning and suffered from stress due to imposed cultural practices which hinders during studies. The results hold implications for professionals involved in improvement of adolescent reproductive health in particular.