Abstract
Introduction: There are various taboos present in Indian society related to menstruation. These taboos ultimately lead to poor menstrual hygiene. Various UTI, RTI, fungal infections and PID can be precipitated due to poor menstrual hygiene. Some neuropsychiatric disorders like PMS and depression are also common in menstruating women. The major objective of this research is To assess the prevalence of various taboos and norms present in various age groups and socio-economic groups of women. And to determine its effects on female health and hygiene.
Method: The study comprised of 400 randomly selected menstruating women of Indore city. The study included school girls, housewives as well as working women. Pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire were administered to the study subjects to assess their knowledge, attitude and practice during menstruation. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel spread sheet and analyzed by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) Software.
Result: This study showed that only 36% women knew the correct reason of menstruation and40% of the women faced social isolation, religious restrictions were imposed on 79% of the women. sanitary pad is used by only 63% of woman. As per this study 65% of the women suffer with PMS and more than half (57%) of the women prefer to rest and sleep as a remedy.
Conclusion: There are misbelieves and lack of knowledge related to menstruation among women of all age groups. Proper knowledge about nutrition and sanitation facilities, emotional disturbances and management of pain during menstruation needs to be provided to women of reproductive age group.
Keywords: Urban slum, Indore city, Menstruation, Sanitation, Low socioeconomic group female.
References
1. RMohite,V Mohite.Menstrual hygiene practices among slum adolescent girls· ijcmph 2016jul3(7):1729-1734.
- Ahuja A, Tewari S. Awareness of pubertal changes among adolescent girls. J Fam Welfare. 1995;41:46–50.
- Singh AJ. Place of menstruation in the reproductive lives of women of rural north India.. Indian J Community Med. 2006;31 (1):10–4.
- Khanna A, Goyal RS, Bhawsar R. Menstrual practices and reproductive problems: a study of adolescent girls in Rajasthan. Journal of Health Management. 2005;7(1):91–
- Kamakhya Kumar, Arunima Datta, Arup Bandyopadhyay. Knowledge, problems and practices of adolescent girls during menstruation. Indian Medical Gazatte. 2015;85-88.
- S Sangeetha Balamurugan, SS Shilpa, Sheethal Shaji. A community based study on menstrual hygieneamong reproductive age group women in a rural area, Tamil Nadu. Journal of Basic and Clinical Reproductive Sciences. 2014;3(2): 83-87
- Talwar R. Study of the Health Profile of Adolescent Girls in an Urban Slum and Their Knowledge about Reproductive Health. MD [thesis]. New Delhi: Delhi University. 1997
- Paul D. A report of an ICMR funded research project: Knowledge and practices of adolescent girls regarding reproductive health with special emphasis on hygiene during menstruation. New Delhi: National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD); 2007
- Santra S. Assessment of knowledge regarding menstruation and practices related to maintenance of menstrual hygiene among the women of reproductive age group in a slum of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Mar;4(3):708-712.
- Dasgupta A, Sarkar M. Menstrual hygiene: how hygienic is the adolescent girl? Indian Journal of Community Medicine.2008; 33(2): 77-80.
- Subhash B. Thakre, Sushma S. Thakre, Monika Reddy. Menstrual hygiene: knowledge and practice among adolescent school girls of Saoner, Nagpur district. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2011; 5:1027-103.
- S B Salve, R K Dase,S M Mahajan. Assessment of knowledge and practices about menstrual hygiene amongst rural and urban adolescent girls- A comparative study. Internat J recent Trends Science Technology 2012;3(3):65-70.
- Mudey AB, Keshwani N, Mudey GA, Goyal RC. A cross-sectional study on the awareness regarding safe and hygienic practices amongst school going adolescent girls in the rural areas of Wardha district. Global Journal of Health Science 2010; 2/2:225-231.
- Narayan KA, Shrivastava, DK, Pelto PJ, Veerapmmal S. Puberty rituals, reprodu-ctive and health of adolescent school girls of south India. Asia Pacific Population Journal June, 2001; 16:225-38.
- Escobedo LG, Reddy M, Giovino GA. The relationship between depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking in US adolescents. Addiction. 1998;93:433– [PubMed]
- Romeach MK, Sproule BA, Sellers EM, Somer G, Busto UE. Long-term codeine use is associated with depressive symptoms. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 1999;19:373– [PubMed]
Corresponding Author
Dr Pranjal Shrivastava
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i7.127
