Paria Baishakhi, Bhattacharyya Agnihotri, Das Sukes
Department of Community Medicine, Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2014 Oct-Dec;3(4):413-7. doi: 10.4103/2249-4863.148131.
Menstruation is a normal physiological process to the females but sometimes it is considered as unclean phenomenon in the society.
To compare the perceptions of different aspects of menstrual hygiene between adolescent girls of rural and urban area.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2013 to September 2013 in urban and rural area of South 24, Paraganas, West Bengal among 541 adolescent school girls in the age group of 13-18 years. Data were collected by the predesigned and pretested questionnaires.
Only 37.52% girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. The difference in the awareness regarding menstruation in urban and rural area was highly significant. Only 36% girls in the urban and 54.88% girls in the rural area used homemade sanitary pads and reused the same in the subsequent period. Satisfactory Cleaning of external genitalia was practiced by only 47.63% of the urban and 37.96% of the rural girls. This study found differences in hygienic practices followed by adolescent girls in urban and rural area.
Hygienic practices during menstruation were unsatisfactory in the rural area as compared to the urban area. Girls should be educated about the proper hygienic practices as well as bring them out of traditional beliefs, misconceptions, and restrictions regarding menstruation.
月经对女性来说是一个正常的生理过程，但在社会上有时却被视为不洁净的现象。
比较城乡地区青春期女孩对月经卫生不同方面的认知。
2013年4月至2013年9月在西孟加拉邦南24区巴拉加纳斯城乡地区对541名年龄在13 - 18岁的青春期在校女生进行了一项基于社区的横断面研究。通过预先设计和预测试的问卷收集数据。
初潮前仅有37.52%的女孩知晓月经。城乡地区在月经知晓方面的差异非常显著。城市地区仅有36%的女孩和农村地区54.88%的女孩使用自制卫生巾并在后续重复使用。城市地区仅有47.63%的女孩和农村地区37.96%的女孩对外生殖器进行了令人满意的清洁。本研究发现城乡地区青春期女孩的卫生习惯存在差异。
与城市地区相比农村地区月经期间的卫生习惯不尽人意。应教育女孩正确的卫生习惯，并使她们摆脱关于月经的传统观念、误解和限制。
