Prevalence of menstrual knowledge, hygiene management practices and school absenteeism: a cross sectional study of adolescent girls in Dagana district, Bhutan

Abstract

Background Menstruation is a normal biological process however it is associated with social misconceptions and mal practices leading to adverse health outcomes. Good management of menstruation is essential but many women are not able to exercise this right with dignity due to lack of resources and social factors. Therefore, this study examined the menstrual knowledge, hygiene practices and its impact on school attendance and other social lives. Method This study was conducted in one of the remote districts of Bhutan in 2017. 210 female students who have experienced menarche were included in the study. Adolescents of age 12 to 20 years old were selected through non- probability sampling. Structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results More than 90% of the girls had heard about menstruation before menarche. 95 (45.2%) and 89 (42.4%) had fair and good knowledge about menstruation respectively. Only 12.4% of the respondents had poor knowledge hygiene management. Respondents’ whose mothers had secondary or higher education have greater use of disposable napkins (85%). Further, 34% of the respondents have reported that they had missed classes due to issues related to menstruation in the last six months. Almost 79% of the respondents belonging to Lhotshampa (one of the ethnic groups in Bhutan) have expressed that they had restrictions during menstruation. The place of residence and the grades were found to be the predictors of school absenteeism. Conclusion This study shows that, most of the girls the adolescent girls had moderate and good levels of knowledge about menstruation hygiene management. Similarly, there is low prevalence of school absenteeism and higher prevalence of good hygiene management. However, these findings cannot be generalized to the populations of Bhutan due to the small size.