A Study to Know the Attitude, Knowledge and Practices about Menstrual Hygiene in School going Girls

The objective of this study was to highlight the knowledge, Attitude and practices about menstrual Hygiene among adolescent school girls in NCR India.

This was a cross – sectional survey including 465 randomly selected girl students from two secondary schools (one from rural and one from urban area) of Hapur and Meerut area of NCR India. A predesigned, pretested and structured questionnaire was used in this study.

Most of the participant 141(62.67%) and 163(67.92%) belonged to age group of 13–15 years in rural and urban area respectively. Most of the girls in both group got knowledge about menstruation from mother 40% Vs 45% and sister 26.22% Vs 22.08% in rural and urban area respectively. Sanitary napkin was used more in urban 115(47.92%) than rural 85(37.78%). Clothes were used more in rural area 118(52.44%) than urban 79(32.92%). Regarding number of Pads used during menstruation was more than 3 pads per day in urban girls 49(20%) than rural girls 25(11%). Majority of participant 208(86.6%) and 157(69.78%) dispose off their pads with domestic refuse in urban and rural area respectively. Only 36(15%) and 25(11.11%) participant of urban rural area participated in ritual practices respectively.

In this study we found that knowledge about menstrual hygiene is poor in adolescent school girls and they follow the unhygienic practices during that time. These girls are also not involved in ritual practices. So there is need of efforts, such as educational program, to improve the knowledge, Attitude and practices during menstruation.