A comparative study on menstrual hygiene among urban and rural adolescent girls of West Bengal

Abstract

Background:Menstruation is a normal physiological process to the females but sometimes it is considered as unclean phenomenon in the society.Objectives:To compare the perceptions of different aspects of menstrual hygiene between adolescent girls of rural and urban area.Materials and Methods:A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2013 to September 2013 in urban and rural area of South 24, Paraganas, West Bengal among 541 adolescent school girls in the age group of 13–18 years. Data were collected by the predesigned and pretested questionnaires.Result:Only 37.52% girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. The difference in the awareness regarding menstruation in urban and rural area was highly significant. Only 36% girls in the urban and 54.88% girls in the rural area used homemade sanitary pads and reused the same in the subsequent period. Satisfactory Cleaning of external genitalia was practiced by only 47.63% of the urban and 37.96% of the rural girls. This study found differences in hygienic practices followed by adolescent girls in urban and rural area.Conclusion:Hygienic practices during menstruation were unsatisfactory in the rural area as compared to the urban area. Girls should be educated about the proper hygienic practices as well as bring them out of traditional beliefs, misconceptions, and restrictions regarding menstruation.

A study to assess the knowledge regarding practices of menstrual hygiene and RTI among high and higher secondary school girls: an educational interventional study

“…9 Another study conducted by Baishakhi et al reported that only 36% girls in urban areas and 54.88% girls in rural areas use homemade sanitary napkins and reused the same in subsequent period. 10 It was observed in this study that 44.67% girls believed it to be a physiological process. However, studies conducted by Gupta et al, Teketo et al, Shamima et al reported that menstruation is believed to be normal physiological process by 86.25%, 57.89%, 72.8% girls respectively.…”

A comparative study of menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban adolescent girls in Mangaluru, Karnataka

“…12 In our study, educational status of majority of the parents of rural as well as urban subjects was found to be high school. Mokhasi et al, in their study in Karnataka among adolescent girls reported a literacy rate of 47.3% and 83.6% among mothers in rural and urban areas respectively, while Paria et al, in their study found 31.63% and 5.26% mothers with secondary school qualification in urban and rural areas respectively.…”

“…Mokhasi et al, in their study in Karnataka among adolescent girls reported a literacy rate of 47.3% and 83.6% among mothers in rural and urban areas respectively, while Paria et al, in their study found 31.63% and 5.26% mothers with secondary school qualification in urban and rural areas respectively. 12,13 Our study also revealed that majority of the rural subjects belonged to families which were below poverty line (BPL), while majority of the urban subjects belonged to families which were above poverty line (APL). Thakre et al, in a similar study in Nagpur (Maharashtra) also found 40.3% of the girls belonging to families which were below poverty line.…”

A community based study on age of menarche among adolescent girls in Aligarh

“…6 Paria et al in rural and urban school of west Bengal among girls of 13-18 years reported the mean age of menarche as 12.24±0.7261. 7 Barthalakshmi et al conducted a school based cross sectional study in Chidambaran on girls from class 8th to 12th with a mean age of menarche was 12.9±1.2 years. 8 Verma et al in a higher secondary school in Varsnasi with maximum number of girls in 15-16 years of age (57.5%) reported 12.98±0.77 years as the mean age of menarche.…”