Study on Knowledge Attitudes and Practices Regarding Menstrual Hygiene among Rural Women in Kerala
Background: Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to females. It carries with it the joy of being a mother and also the sorrow of guilt due to unclean feeling. Orthodox Indian culture does not allow open discussion about it and the associated problems. Aims: To measure the knowledge, attitude, & practice regarding menstrual hygiene among the adolescent girls & women in rural area aged between 15-50 years, in Anjarakandy Panchayat of Kannur district of Kerala. Settings and design: It is a cross sectional study. The data was collected by interview method by MBBS students under the supervision of investigators. There were 217 women who could be contacted during our visit to 3 clusters (in 3 wards) of households of Anjarakandy Panchayat. The first house was randomly chosen & subsequently each adjacent house was taken. All the eligible women who could be contacted during the allotted time were included. Material and Methods: The questionnaire consisted of both open ended & closed ended questions. Statistical analysis: The collected data was tabulated in Microsoft excel and it was analyzed in SPSS version 11.0. Chisquare test, proportions and percentage was used for the data analysis. Results: Most (76%) ladies have a positive attitude towards menstrual hygiene.Main reason (35%) for not using sanitary napkins was economic reasons. However 29% of the women opined that they were not aware of it & another 29% opined that they did not like it. Conclusion: 75.6% of women of the study population knew that menstrual hygiene is very important. Another 21.7% opined not important that it was. The attitude needs to be reinforced with the help of the stake holders in the community.
