Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Use of Sanitary Napkin Among Menstruating Females in Rural West Bengal, India.

BACKGROUND

Prevalence of misinformation, myth and taboo prevents the women from adopting proper menstrual hygiene which predisposes to urogenital infections. These socio-cultural beliefs and taboo can only be fought by creating awareness about normal menstrual physiology, safe hygienic practices and reproductive health.

AIMS

This study will assess the knowledge, attitude and practices about sanitary napkin among menstruating females of rural West Bengal. It will analyse the association between hygienic practice of the respondents and significant factors affecting it.

MATERIAL & METHODS: It is a hospital-based cross-sectional study carried out in gynaecology outpatient department, from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021. Five hundred women were enrolled through simple random sampling after proper informed consent. A predesigned, pretested questionnaire was used to collect data by personal interview method. Institutional Ethics Committee clearance was taken. Data analysis was done using SPSS software.

RESULTS

Hygienic menstrual practice of the participants varied with different categories of socio-economic status, age group and literacy status. Use of sanitary napkin was 7.3353 times [OR: 7.3353 (4.2449, 12.6755 -value < 0.0001] more in respondents aware about hygienic menstrual practices prevents infections than those who were ignorant of it. Hygienic practice of using a sanitary napkin was significantly inversely associated with urogenital complain of the respondents [OR: 0.0678 (0.0402, 0.1145) -value < 0.0001].

CONCLUSION

Right knowledge will help develop hygienic menstrual practice and overcome misconceptions and taboos. Proper policies need to be framed and implemented to cover this public health need for overall health and community development.