Menstrual Management Using a Mobile Application in Adolescent Girls With Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Mother; Menstrual Hygiene Management; Hand Hygiene; Intellectual Disability, Mild

• Registration Number: NCT07016932
• Lead Sponsor: Selcuk University

Brief Summary

In the study conducted to determine the effectiveness of menstruation management training given with a mobile application (Bağımsız Yapabilirim) in female adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities in the independent living support program, the effect of the developed mobile application on hand hygiene and pad change will be determined. The research is a randomized controlled study.

Detailed Description

When the existing literature is examined, it is seen that there are limited number of studies on menstruation management education. In the studies, menstrual hygiene education was given to mentally disabled adolescent girls in small groups with model dolls or videos on social media that were not prepared by experts. Although these studies show that menstrual hygiene education given to mentally disabled students is successful, they are limited to small sample groups. For adolescent girls with intellectual disabilities, the onset of menstruation affects their independence and creates additional concerns for mothers at home, at school and in other settings. In studies conducted with mothers of adolescent girls with intellectual disabilities, mothers reported that they worried about their daughters' inability to understand menstruation, inability to change pads or dispose of them in the trash can appropriately, inability to pay attention to privacy during these special days, and that they did not send their daughters to school because they thought that they could not manage the menstruation process. Mothers' worries and fears during this process cause adolescent girls with intellectual disabilities to spend approximately one week at home every month, preventing them from socializing, negatively affecting their academic skills, further slowing their developmental processes and making it difficult for them to get used to independent life. In addition, studies show that the quality of life of both mothers and girls decreases significantly due to poor management of the menstruation process.

The main aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of menstruation management training given to female adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities using a mobile application (Bağımsız Yapabilirim).

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2025-04-09
• Study First Submitted: 2025-05-15
• Status Verified: 2025-06
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-11
• Study First Posted: 2025-06-12
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-06-12
• Last Update Posted: 2025-06-15
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-09
• Study Completion: 2026-01-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 82

Inclusion Criteria

• Diagnosed with mild intellectual disability
• Menstrual cycle has started and menstruation is regular
• Primary caregivers are mothers
• Toilet-trained
• Has the ability to stick an adhesive object to a surface and remove it from the surface
• Have the ability to dress and undress
• Have the ability to follow simple instructions
• Adolescent girls and their mothers who have the ability to recognize the materials to be used will be included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria

• Not willing to use the mobile application at any stage of the study
• Participated in a different training on menstruation management while the research was ongoing
• Not completing the education process
• Not completing the data collection forms
• Mentally disabled adolescent girls with moderate, severe and very severe intellectual disabilities and their mothers will be excluded from the study.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Introductory Form for Mothers and Female Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities	1st Time: Day 1	This form was developed through a literature review to be used in both "analysis" and "design" phases of the study. The form consists of two sections to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and daughters and the menstrual characteristics of the mentally disabled female adolescent. In the first part of the form in which socio-demographic characteristics were evaluated, there were 17 questions such as the age of the mother and daughter, education and employment status of the mother, while in the second part of the form in which menstrual characteristics of the mentally disabled female adolescent were evaluated, there were 11 questions about menstruation period and hygiene such as whether menarche started or not, whether menstrual cycle was regular or not, whether the mother gave education to her daughter about menstrual period and pad change or not.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Hand Hygiene Skill Performance Recording Chart	1st Time: Day 1, 2nd Time: Day 30, 3rd Time: Day 90, 4th Time: Day 240	This form was created according to the hand washing guide of the Ministry of Health to be used in the "implementation" phase of the study according to the ADDIE learning design model and in the experimental and control groups in the final phase of the study. The form includes 10 statements created in accordance with the hand hygiene steps in order to measure the hand hygiene skills of female adolescents.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Selçuklu Özel Eğitim Meslek Okulu; 🇹🇷 Konya, Selçuklu, Turkey