A study on practices regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of urban areas of Jabalpur District

Abstract

Abstract Background: Adolescence in girls is a phase of transition toward womanhood and its beginning is marked by menstruation. But unfortunately most of the adolescent girls do not maintain proper hygiene during menstruation because of ignorance, which in turn increase their risk of developing genital infections in future. Objective: To assess practices regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of urban areas of Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study and 200 adolescent girls were randomly selected from the area under study. Result: A total of 70.2% of the girls used sanitary pads but the rest used cloth and the practice of reusing without washing properly was seen commonly among girls. A total of 74.4% of the girls reported pain in abdomen, 57.7% reported lower back pain, and 29% experienced pain in breast and tiredness during menstruation. Conclusion: This study showed that some adolescent girls had poor information about the hygienic practices during menstruation. KEY WORDS: menstrual hygiene, adolescent Introduction