Menstrual hygiene: Practices and challenges faced by female workers of Manav Rachna University

Pages: 176-179
Anjana Goyal, Jigyasa Gupta, Anushka Choudhary, Kadambari Harit, K.S Ragesvari, and Ishu Gupta
(Department of Biochemistry, Manav Rachna Dental College, Faridabad, Haryana and 1st year BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, Faridabad, Haryana)

During the adolescent period, a child gets fully matured in terms of psychological and biological development but the menstruation and menstrual practices are still clouded by taboos and socio-cultural restriction resulting in adolescent girls remaining ignorant of the scientific facts and hygienic health practices, which sometimes result in adverse health outcomes. Special attention is required in a girl’s life as it marks a change in her life, considering it to be a special period. For spreading awareness regarding menstruation and various ways to deal with it, an effort has been made to explore the knowledge, practices, and to find out the means of getting the information. A cross – sectional study of a total of 49 women from Manav Rachna Dental College, Faridabad, gave their consent to participate in the cross-sectional survey. A pre-designed, pretested, and structured questionnaire was prepared which consisted of 25 questions divided into 5 categories to know the level of basic awareness about menstruation, the knowledge of menstrual hygiene, economic restrictions, social restrictions, and hesitation in attending work during this time. The result has shown that 89 % of respondents had basic awareness about menstruation, which included the knowledge like (when does it start, what is the reason behind it, why it occurs etc.), 69 % had the knowledge of menstrual hygiene (how to use sanitary napkins, taking a bath regularly during this period), 49 % was economically restricted (did not have the money to buy sanitary napkins), 37 % was socially bounded (were not allowed to work in the kitchens or enter the temples) and 63 % hesitated to attend work during this time. This study showed that 89 % of the workers had the basic knowledge and awareness on menstrual hygiene but being the professional dental college / medical college, it was very much required that each and every female worker should have proper and sufficient knowledge to eliminate the taboos prevalent in Indian society and to maintain hygiene.