Ahn Sukhee
College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea.
Korean J Women Health Nurs. 2013 Dec;19(4):285-294. doi: 10.4069/kjwhn.2013.19.4.285. Epub 2013 Dec 31.
The study was done to survey feminine hygiene and vaginal douche practices in middle-aged women to obtain basic information for public health education.
With a descriptive survey design, 134 middle-aged women who have menstrual period were recruited via convenience sampling. Survey contents were from the study by Czerwinski (2000) regarding feminine hygiene and vaginal douching practices. After obtaining IRB approval, a self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed to study participants.
Mean age of middle-aged women was 46.88 years old. Fifty-six percent of the women practiced vaginal douching. Women performed douching with water (68%), commercial products (13%), soap (12%), and vinegar-mixed water (6%) for clean and fresh feeling, removal of unpleasant odor, and removal of vaginal discharge. Vaginal douche practice was significantly related to a history of vaginitis.
The study results indicate that most of the women practiced inadequate feminine hygiene especially in douching, suggesting that is important to develop education programs on feminine hygiene practices for women of all ages, especially regarding douching and hand washing before and after changing pads or tampons.
开展本研究以调查中年女性的女性卫生和阴道灌洗习惯，从而获取公共卫生教育的基础信息。
采用描述性调查设计，通过便利抽样招募了134名有月经的中年女性。调查内容来自Czerwinski（2000年）关于女性卫生和阴道灌洗习惯的研究。获得机构审查委员会（IRB）批准后，向研究参与者发放了一份自行填写的结构化问卷。
中年女性的平均年龄为46.88岁。56%的女性进行阴道灌洗。女性用水（68%）、市售产品（13%）、肥皂（12%）和醋混合水（6%）进行灌洗，以获得清洁和清爽的感觉、去除异味以及清除阴道分泌物。阴道灌洗习惯与阴道炎病史显著相关。
研究结果表明，大多数女性的女性卫生习惯不当，尤其是在灌洗方面，这表明为各年龄段女性制定女性卫生习惯教育计划很重要，特别是关于更换卫生巾或卫生棉条前后的灌洗和洗手。
