Level and Associated Factors of Knowledge regarding Menstrual Hygiene among School-Going Adolescent Girls in Dang District, Nepal

Abstract

Background. Adolescent girls in developing countries do not have proper information, and proper information is covered up by sociocultural boundaries resulting in various morbidities. This study aimed to determine level of knowledge and its associated factors regarding menstrual hygiene amongst adolescent school girls in Dang district, Nepal. Methods. Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted between April and October 2019 among 406 adolescent girls studying in grades 8–10 between ages of 10–19 years in Dang district, Nepal. From a total of 10 local units, 5 were selected randomly. Out of the selected 5 units, 10 schools consisting of 5 government and 5 private schools were selected through disproportionate stratified random sampling. A further 406 students were then selected randomly from the 10 selected schools. Bivariate analysis was used primarily to assess the association between dependent and independent variables. Variables which were associated with bivariate analysis were entered into a multivariable logistic regression model to identify associated factors of menstrual hygiene practice. Results. The mean age and family size were 15.13 ± 1.19 and 5.58 ± 1.81, respectively. A total of 87.7% of adolescents had good knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene. Adolescents living in rural area (AOR = 0.27, CI: 0.12–0.61, p ≤ 0.001 ), private schools (AOR = 6.10, CI: 1.58–23.46, p ≤ 0.001 ), mothers who can read and write (AOR = 0.22, CI: 0.07–0.64, p ≤ 0.001 ), fathers who have up-to-grade-10 education (AOR = 5.15, CI: 1.84–14.39, p ≤ 0.001 ), and living only with mothers (AOR = 0.29, CI: 0.12–0.69, p ≤ 0.018 ) were significantly associated with level of knowledge of menstrual hygiene. Conclusions. Though the majority of respondents had a good level of knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene, there was a knowledge gap in specific areas. The level of knowledge was significantly poor among adolescents in rural areas and those living only with mothers. Thus, this study concerns the need for policy makers to focus on specific education regarding menstrual hygiene in rural areas including both parents.

Assessment of menstrual hygiene practice and associated factor among High school female students in Harari Region, Eastern Ethiopia 2019

“…In this study, 184 (61.1%) study participant had good knowledge about menstrual hygiene, 117(38.9%) respondents had poor menstrual hygiene knowledge this is high when compared with the study done in Wegera District, it was found that 145(34.3%) had good knowledge regarding menses, But, it’s low when compared with similar study in Dang Nepal and eastern Ethiopia, majority 356 (87.7%) and 460 (68.5%) of female had good knowledge about menstruation, this difference may be due variation in sample size and study population. [9, 11, 12]…”

Knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among tribal adolescent girls in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh

“…Regarding knowledge Majority of girls in the present study heard about menstruation constituting about 98.4% whereas the remaining 1.6% have not heard about menstrual health management which is more when compared to the study conducted by Chetan Kant Bhusal, in which 89.4% girls have heard about menstruation whereas 10.6% have not heard about menstruation but a little less when compared to the study conducted by Akwasi boakye in which every (100%) female adolescent student in the Municipality is aware of menstrual health management. 7,8 The main source of information for majority of girls in the present study regarding menstrual health management is mother constituting about 77.2% followed by teachers (12%), sisters (4.8%), friends (3.6%) and others (2.4%).…”

Menstruation Hygiene Management among Secondary School Students of Chitwan, Nepal- Pre-Post Study Design

“…This was supported by a study conducted in Araihazar, Bangladesh 29 and Oyo state, Nigeria. 17 However studies conducted in Dang Nepal 18 , Doti , Nepal 22 , Chitwan Nepal 30 found higher proportion of school girls reported correct response on it. The difference might be due to the different study settings in term of urban vs rural , age of the participants selection of private schools vs public schools , school culture and environment regarding menstruation hygiene management.…”

“…The study done in Dang Nepal (22.3%), Amhare regional state, Ethiopia (9.3%), Sokoto, Nigeria (35%) and South-western Nigeria (30%) found lower proportion of the respondents had unsatisfactory or lower level of knowledge , respectively 18,19,20,21 In contrast to this study, the study done in Doti, Nepal(73.6%) , Araihazar, Bangladesh (72.2%), Baghdad, Iraq (74%), Riyan City , Saudi (75.9%) conducted revealed a higher portion of girls had unsatisfactory knowledge about MHM. 22,23,24,25 The difference might be due to change in time and progression of educational supplies as compared to previous time as well as because of divergence scoring system and number of questions related to knowledge assessment for measuring the knowledge level of MHM in different studies .…”

“…The level of knowledge was categorized as per the study conducted by Chetkanta et al, in Dang, Nepal. 18 Unsatisfactory: 0-12 score; Satisfactory: 13-24.…”