Menstrual Health Education: School Health Curriculum Topics by Grade Level Recommended by Specialized Medical Professionals in Menstrual Health Clinics.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Evidence-based menstrual health education is not mandated in any US state or territory. Aspects of normal and abnormal menstruation impact quality of life and educational engagement, but many youths are not prepared to know when to seek medical help. We sought to determine which topics should be included in a third- through eighth-grade school-based menstrual health curriculum.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of medical professionals who care for patients with menstrual problems. We asked participants to indicate the top 3 menstrual health topics by grade, and we compared the most common responses by year. We also solicited general comments about the curriculum content.

RESULTS

Surveys from 55 medical professionals met the criteria for analysis. The topics selected most frequently were normal and abnormal menstruation, reproductive anatomy, puberty timeline, and menstrual products. Most recommended the topics of puberty timeline (38, 69.1%) and reproductive anatomy (34, 61.8%) for third grade, introducing normal menstruation (31, 56.4%) and menstrual products (24, 46.3%) in fourth grade, and abnormal menstruation (27, 49.1%) in sixth grade. More complex topics, such as world cultures around menstruation (14, 25.5%) and period poverty (11, 20.0%), were preferred for eighth grade. Many providers emphasized the importance of teaching normal vs abnormal menstruation in a school health curriculum.

CONCLUSION

Medical professionals provided recommendations for a school-based menstrual health curriculum that introduces topics at developmentally appropriate ages from a medical perspective, teaches basic menstrual symptom management, and instructs on warning signs for abnormal menstruation.