Abstract

Aim: To seek out the gap between knowledge and practices of teen age females regarding menstrual hygiene.

Methodology: It was a descriptive cross sectional study included 200 girls aged between 11-19 years. Participants were selected from teen age patients attending the OPD of Islam Teaching Hospital Sialkot and girls accompanying the patients. Simple random sampling was done. The study was conducted from 01-07-2019 to 31-12-2019. Socio demographic characteristics and practices of menstrual hygiene among these young females were variables of interest. For data analysis SPSS version 20 was selected and P-value <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Our results showed that 59% of literate girls were using sanitary pad as absorbent while among illiterate girls 71% were using cloth as absorbent that may cause infection of reproductive tract. On the other hand 55% girls had monthly family income >25000 Rs and 57% of these girls were using sanitary pad as absorbent and 69% of girls with monthly income <25000 Rs were using cloth as absorbent material however, only 16% of adolescent females had information regarding onset of periods while 84% had no such information.

Conclusion: This study determined a huge gap of knowledge and awareness among the target population about menstrual hygiene. Teen age girls were kept ignorant of onset of menstruation and they are not practicing menstrual hygiene not only due to illiteracy but also low family income and lack awareness of standard hygiene.

Keywords: Menstrual hygiene, teen age females, absorbent material.