Developing games as a qualitative method for researching menstrual hygiene management in rural Bolivia

Long, Jeanne L.; Caruso, Bethany A.; Freeman, Matthew C.; Mamani, Maribel; Camacho, Gladys; Vancraeynest, Koenraad

doi:10.3362/1756-3488.2015.007

Cited by 18 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…These findings are consistent with the minimal but growing body of empirical qualitative literature on girls’ experiences of menstruation across the globe including in Sub-Saharan Africa (Phillips-Howard et al, 2015; Caruso et al, 2014; Sommer, 2013; Crichton et al, 2013; McMahon et al, 2011; Piper Pillitterri, 2011; Sommer, 2010; Adinma & Adinma, 2008), Asia (Sommer, Ackatia-Armah, Connolly, & Smiles, 2014; Haver et al, 2013), and Latin America (Long et al, 2015; Long et al, 2013), which suggests that such challenges are all too common. The findings also reinforce the critical importance of capturing girls’ own perspectives on the social, cultural and economic contextual factors directly affecting their lives.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“I Didn't Tell Anyone Because I Was Very Afraid”: Girls' Experiences of Menstruation in Contemporary Ethiopia

Smiles

Short

Sommer

2017

Women's Reproductive Health

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Menstrual health is central to girls’ wellbeing, and is connected to their rights to health, education, safety, non-discrimination, and autonomy. This article investigates girls’ experiences of menstruation in present-day Ethiopia. Results, based on data collected from 120 girls in two regions, illustrate the challenges associated with menstruation, including menstrual taboos and cultural beliefs surrounding menstruation, myths about menstruation and sex, and restrictive social expectations related to marriage, and interpersonal interaction. These challenges diminish girls’ health, education, safety, and autonomy, and in so doing, underscore the relevance of menstrual health to rights’ agendas that seek to advance girls’ wellbeing.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“I Didn't Tell Anyone Because I Was Very Afraid”: Girls' Experiences of Menstruation in Contemporary Ethiopia

Smiles

Short

Sommer

2017

Women's Reproductive Health

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“…Knowledge deficits varied in content. In some studies, younger girls were unaware of their reproductive organs and that menstrual bleeding originated from this system, rather than elsewhere such as the digestive tract [9, 41]. In others, girls’ post menarche and older women linked menstruation with reproduction but had other lingering questions such as why menstrual bleeding occurred [11, 15, 44, 72, 73] or whether it was needed to rid the body of ‘dirty blood’ [10, 14, 34, 71, 72, 77, 84].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Access to clean, reliable materials to absorb menses, supportive sanitation infrastructure, and biological and pragmatic information about menstruation were highlighted as core challenges [6, 7]. Studies suggested that these challenges negatively impacted school participation [4, 8, 9], health, and well-being [10, 11, 12, 13]. Fewer studies of adult women have highlighted that they too lack resources and support [14, 15], which may contribute to stress and absence from employment [16, 17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s and girls’ experiences of menstruation in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis

et al. 2019

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Background Attention to women’s and girls’ menstrual needs is critical for global health and gender equality. The importance of this neglected experience has been elucidated by a growing body of qualitative research, which we systematically reviewed and synthesised. Methods and findings We undertook systematic searching to identify qualitative studies of women’s and girls’ experiences of menstruation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Of 6,892 citations screened, 76 studies reported in 87 citations were included. Studies captured the experiences of over 6,000 participants from 35 countries. This included 45 studies from sub-Saharan Africa (with the greatest number of studies from Kenya [ n = 7], Uganda [ n = 6], and Ethiopia [ n = 5]), 21 from South Asia (including India [ n = 12] and Nepal [ n = 5]), 8 from East Asia and the Pacific, 5 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 5 from the Middle East and North Africa, and 1 study from Europe and Central Asia. Through synthesis, we identified overarching themes and their relationships to develop a directional model of menstrual experience. This model maps distal and proximal antecedents of menstrual experience through to the impacts of this experience on health and well-being. The sociocultural context, including menstrual stigma and gender norms, influenced experiences by limiting knowledge about menstruation, limiting social support, and shaping internalised and externally enforced behavioural expectations. Resource limitations underlay inadequate physical infrastructure to support menstruation, as well as an economic environment restricting access to affordable menstrual materials. Menstrual experience included multiple themes: menstrual practices, perceptions of practices and environments, confidence, shame and distress, and containment of bleeding and odour. These components of experience were interlinked and contributed to negative impacts on women’s and girls’ lives. Impacts included harms to physical and psychological health as well as education and social engagement. Our review is limited by the available studies. Study quality was varied, with 18 studies rated as high, 35 medium, and 23 low trustworthiness. Sampling and analysis tended to be untrustworthy in lower-quality studies. Studies focused on the experiences of adolescent girls were most strongly represented, and we achieved early saturation for this group. Reflecting the focus of menstrual health research globally, there was an absence of studies focused on adult women and those from certain geographical areas. Conclusions Through synthesis of extant qualitative studies of menstrual experience, we highlight consistent challenges and developed an integrated model of menstrual experience. This model hypothesises directional pathways that could be tested by future studies and may serve...

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“…The FGDs, which included 6–11 post-menarcheal girls in grades 6–8, used participatory activities to explore girls’ challenges at school related to menstruation and to identify girls’ perceptions of important toilet characteristics for menstruating girls. Participatory activities were embedded in the FGDs because they have been shown to enable girls to discuss menstruation practices at school more openly than direct questioning alone [ 34 , 35 ]. In the first FGD activity, “The Ideal Place to Manage Your Period,” participants worked together to draw pictures of the perfect facility for menstrual management and discussed their drawings.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical, Social, and Political Inequities Constraining Girls’ Menstrual Management at Schools in Informal Settlements of Nairobi, Kenya

et al. 2017

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Access to adequate water and sanitation is limited in informal settlements, contributing to girls’ challenges managing menstruation at school, especially when they cannot access materials to absorb menstrual blood and appropriate facilities for hygiene. This study documents differences between girls’ experience of menstruation at public schools (where the Kenyan government provides menstrual pads) and private schools (where pads are not provided) in two informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya. Results showed that supply chains to public schools were not reliable, and equitable pad provision was not assured. Girls in private schools struggled to access pads because they were not provided. Sanitation facilities were physically available, but Muslim girls were unable to practice ablution due to the design of toilets in our study schools. Girls experienced fear and anxiety due to harassment from male peers and had incomplete information about menstruation from teachers. Findings suggest that practitioners and policy-makers should acknowledge the diversity of school populations and monitor programs to ensure efforts do not contribute to inequity.

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Developing games as a qualitative method for researching menstrual hygiene management in rural Bolivia

Cited by 18 publications

References 9 publications

“I Didn't Tell Anyone Because I Was Very Afraid”: Girls' Experiences of Menstruation in Contemporary Ethiopia

“I Didn't Tell Anyone Because I Was Very Afraid”: Girls' Experiences of Menstruation in Contemporary Ethiopia

Women’s and girls’ experiences of menstruation in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis

Physical, Social, and Political Inequities Constraining Girls’ Menstrual Management at Schools in Informal Settlements of Nairobi, Kenya

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