The effect of a school-based educational intervention on menstrual health: an intervention study among adolescent girls in Bangladesh.

Haque, Syed E., Rahman, Mosiur, Kawashima, Itsuko, Mutahara, Mahmuda and Sakisaka, Kayako, (2014). The effect of a school-based educational intervention on menstrual health: an intervention study among adolescent girls in Bangladesh.. BMJ Open, 4(e004607), 1-9

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Haque, Syed E.
    Rahman, Mosiur
    Kawashima, Itsuko
    Mutahara, Mahmuda
    Sakisaka, Kayako
    Title The effect of a school-based educational intervention on menstrual health: an intervention study among adolescent girls in Bangladesh.
    Appearing in BMJ Open
    Volume 4
    Issue No. e004607
    Publication Date 2014-07
    Place of Publication UK
    Publisher BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
    Start page 1
    End page 9
    Language eng
    Abstract Objectives: To assess the impact of a school-based menstrual education programme on: (1) menstrual knowledge, beliefs and practices, (2) menstrual disorders experienced, and (3) restrictions on menstruating adolescents. Design: Intervention study. Setting: Araihazar area, Bangladesh. Participants: 416 adolescent female students aged11–16 years, in grade 6–8, and living with their parents. Interventions: A school-based health education study conducted from April 2012 to April 2013.Primary and secondary outcome measures: We randomly selected 3 of 26 high schools in the study area. We delivered 6 months of educational intervention by trained (by an obstetrician and gynaecologist) research assistants (RAs) on menstrual hygiene among school girls. RAs read the questionnaire and participants answered. The changes in knowledge, beliefs and practices regarding menstruation, menstrual disorders experienced, and the restrictions and behaviours practiced by menstruating adolescents were compared between the baseline and the follow-up assessments. Results: After health education, participants reported a significant improvement (p<0.001) in ‘high knowledge and beliefs’ scores compared to baseline (51% vs 82.4%). Significant improvement was also observed in overall good menstrual practices (28.8%vs 88.9%), including improvements in using sanitary pads (22.4% change after the intervention), frequency of changing pads/cloths per day (68.8%), drying the used absorbent (77.6%), methods of disposing of the used absorbent (25.5%), and cleaning of genitalia(19.2%). During the follow-up, the participants reported significant improvements in the regularity of their menstrual cycle (94.5% vs 99.5%) and fewer complications during menstruation (78.6% vs 59.6%).Conclusions: The programme produced significant changes in the knowledge, beliefs and practices of menstrual hygiene, complications from lack of hygiene, and the behaviour and restrictions of the menstruating adolescents. These results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a health education programme for adolescents on menstrual hygiene in secondary schools serving rural Bangladesh.
    Keyword Global health
    Public health
    Copyright Holder Authors
    Copyright Year 2014
    Copyright type All rights reserved
    DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004607
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    Created: Fri, 18 Jul 2014, 16:56:37 JST by Conor McTernan on behalf of UNU IIGH