Male awareness of menstruation and menstrual hygiene in urban India: Is it adequate?

Pages: 447-451
Arti Dubey, Deepti Yadav, Savita Bansal, Manya Prakash, Prerna Rimjhim, and Mohammad Faizan (Manav Rachna Dental College, Faridabad, Haryana)

Millions of women suffer physically and mentally during menstruation due to inadequate knowledge,
misconceptions and sociocultural restrictions. Male awareness of menstrual hygiene is equally important as India
being a patriarchal society, family fund allocation and decision making rests with them.To assess the knowledge and
sociocultural practices regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene among university students. Across sectional
study was conducted on both male and female university students. A pre validated semi structured questionnaire
was administered to the students through Google forms. Sample size calculation and statistical analysis was done.
Of the 763 participants 453 (59.4%) were female and 310 (40.6%) were male respondents. 481(63.0%) students
belonged to medical stream while 282 (37.0%) were enrolled in non-medical courses. The knowledge score
calculated on the knowledge based questions was 6.49±0.81 for females which was significantly higher than that of
males (4.36±2.07) with a p value of <0.0001. The knowledge score of boys pursuing medical courses was more 6.19±0.83 as compared to boys studying non-medical courses 3.76±2. Majority of the females preferred the use of sanitary pads with little awareness about menstrual cups and tampons. Knowledge about menstruation is lacking in males. Educating males should be a priority so that they can contribute to the menstrual hygiene needs of girls and help break the stigma and taboos associated with it in the society.