menstrual hygiene management practice and its associated factors among secondary school girls in finot selam town, nothwest Ethiopia, 2019

Abstract

Background: Menstrual hygiene is vital to the health, well-being, dignity and productivity of women and girls. There is a problem about menstrual hygiene management especially among communities in which discussing about menstrual hygiene is taboo in their culture. Women and girls in rural settings and particularly girls in schools suffer most from stigma and lack of services and facilities to help them cope with the physical and psychological pains they undergo during their menstrual periods. Objective: This study was aimed to assess menstrual hygiene management practice and associated factors among secondary school girls in Finot Selam town, Ethiopia 2019. Method: School based cross-sectional study was conducted among school girls in Finot Selam town from March 20 to March 30. Data were collected using pre-tested structured selfadministered questionnaires. Data were checked, coded and entered in to Epi-data version 3.1 software, and then exported to Statistical package for social sciences version 20 for statistical analysis. Variables with a p-value<0.25 in bivariate analysis were candidate for multivariable logistic regression and those with a p-value<0.05 in multivariable analysis were considered as having statistically significant association with menstrual hygiene practice. Thematic analysis was employed for the qualitative one. Wealth index was computed by Principal component analysis. Result: A total of 442 school girls were participated in the study, with response rate of 99.1%. About 68 % of adolescent girls had good practice of menstrual hygiene management and 71.5 % of girls use commercial made disposable sanitary pads. The odd of good practice was 3.4 times higher [AOR=3.40; 95% C.I: (1.16, 9.97)] among girls whose fathers’ education was colleges and above compared to those whose father was illiterate. Adolescent girls who heard about menstruation before menarche were 3.95 times [AOR=3.95; 95% C.I: (2.13 ,7.33)] more likely to have good practice compared to those who didn’t heard. It was also found that the odd of good practice among those who discuss about menstrual hygiene with their parents was 2.75 [AOR =2.75 ;95% CI: (1.71, 4.43) times higher than those who didn’t discuss. The odd of good practice among those who know sanitary pads in the market was 2.1 [AOR =2.10 ;95% CI: (1.18, 3.28)] times higher than those who didn’t know about sanitary pads. Findings from in-depth interview found that inadequate sanitation facility was reported as a problem for girls to manage their menstrual hygiene in school. Conclusion and recommendation: Most of girls in this study have good practice of menstrual hygiene management. Paternal education, discussion with parents about menstruation, knowledge on sanitary pads and prior information were the factors identified that affect the practice of menstrual hygienic management. Inadequate sanitation facilities in schools was the major challenge to manage menstruation for students at school. It is important that Program designers and stakeholders should setup health education program to adolescent on menstrual hygiene at all levels starting from the elementary schools.