Effect of School Based Awareness on Menstrual Hygiene Knowledge and Practice among Adolescent Girls

Menstruation is an essential phenomenon in an adolescent girl’s life and it is a complex biological phenomenon governed by the interplay of hormones, particularly estrogen and progesterone, which prepare the uterine lining for potential pregnancy.According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme 2012, menstrual hygiene management is defined as:

“Women and adolescent girls are using a clean menstrual management material to absorb or collect menstrual blood, that can be changed in privacy as often as necessary, using soap and water for washing the body as required, and having access to safe and convenient facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials. They understand the basic facts linked to the menstrual cycle and how to manage it with dignity and without discomfort or fear.”

90 samples will be selected as per inclusion and exclusion criteria by simple random sampling from selected Government schools in urban region of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state. Before taking survey, authority consent will be taken from school authority for conducting the study. Then informed consent will be obtained from the parents of the participants and assent from participants who are selected by simple random sampling. The data will be collected as pre-survey procedure through direct interview schedule with the help of a pre-validated structured questionnaire.[16]. The participant will be assured about the confidentiality of any kind of data obtained through the survey. After collecting data ,an Awareness class on Menstrual Hygiene Knowledge and Practice will be given to the participants which deals the areas like basics of menstruation with physiology, physical and psychological changes during menstruation, personal hygiene and its importance,nutritional status during menstruation, menstruation material to be used and its cleaning and changing time, problems associated with menstruation and mode of utilisation of ayurvedic measure for solving the issues etc to the participants; which will be given as 3 sessions during 3 consecutive menstrual cycle of the participants. Later the same questionnaire will be given to the participant for taking post-survey after first menstrual cycle following the Awareness class. Taking post-survey result ,analysis of pre-survey and post-survey result will be done to analyse the effectiveness of Awareness on Menstrual Hygiene Knowledge Practice among the  participants.