Publication:

Impact of health education regarding menstrual hygiene on genitourinary tract morbidities: an intervention study among adolescent girl students in an urban slum

Background Menstruation and menstrual hygiene are still issues which are insufficiently recognized in Indian society and influenced by misconceptions and socio‐cultural restrictions. Adolescent girls become vulnerable to reproductive tract infections resulted from lack of knowledge and faulty practices regarding menstrual hygiene. The study aimed to assess the impact of health education programme regarding knowledge, attitude and practice of menstrual hygiene on genitourinary tract morbidities among adolescent girl students in a slum area of Kolkata.

Methods A quasi experimental study was conducted in two Government secondary schools located in a slum area under Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The study consisted of three steps. First a baseline survey with the help of a pre designed pretested questionnaire was done to find out the socio-demographic information, existing knowledge, attitude and practice of menstrual hygiene of the students and presence of any genito-urinary tract morbidities was documented. This was followed by an intervention phase of 6 months during which weekly lecture and interactive classes were taken in the study school. Second step was reassessment of K.A.P of menstrual hygiene and documentation of related morbidities at post intervention. Third step was to follow them for another 3 months for final reassessment of the same.

Results There was statistically significant decrease in the genito-urinary tract morbidities with improvement of mean K.A.P score of menstrual hygiene in study school from the pre-test level to post-test level as compared to the control school. But there was a significant decline of mean menstrual hygiene score at follow up of 9 months in the study school depicting lack of sustainability of the heath educational programme.

Conclusions Sustained health education programme with regular reinforcement and active involvement of the mothers regarding menstrual hygiene can lead to better reproductive health of adolescents.