A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Programme on the Knowledge regarding Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescence Girls Studying in the Selected Schools, Kolhapur

Adolescent is a period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It is a time of biologic, intellectual, psychosocial and economic changes. The girls who enter the adolescent period have rapid physical and psychological changes. During this period girls develop breast, hair under arms and private parts, oily skin and body odors. At this stage of adolescent majority of girls attain menarche. Menarche is first menstruation of the girls which occurs every month periodically menstruation is phenomenon unique to females. Although every women has an individual cycle of menstruation, it varies in length and the average cycle is taken to be 28 days long and recurs from puberty to menopause except pregnancy and other reproductive disorders. It occurs at the age of 12 to 13 years. Hygiene related practice of women during menstruation is of considerable impotence as it has a health impact in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infection. The findings of the study on menstrual hygiene showed that the girls should be educated about the significance of menstruation, selection of sanitary menstrual absorbent and its proper disposal. Adolescent girls behind the importance of personal hygiene for the reduction of menstrual pain, 51.5% reported not taking a bath for 8 days after the onset of their menstrual period and the vast majority of students (98.5%) indicated that young girls should receive appropriate and sufficient information related hygiene. A descriptive study was approached with pre test design. The sample size was 30, the girls studying in 9th standard of new model English school, Kolhapur other than the pilot study conducted. Demographic data, structured knowledge questionnaire and development of information booklet were prepared for data collection procedure. The tool was finalized by consulting seven experts in the field of nursing. Pilot study was done for its clarity, unambiguity & feasibility on similar subject. Demographic data of the students were presented in graphs. Association of variables was tested by Chi-square with Yates correction test. The age range of the participants was 13-15 years. Majority of them belonged to middle class family. The knowledge level on menstrual hygiene was maximum good in more than half of the participants 24(80%) and 6(20%) were average. The data presented indicates that the majority of girls 15 (50%) belongs to the age group of 14 years, minimum of 8 (2.66%) belongs to 13 years and 7 (2.34%) belongs to 15 years. Majority of the girls 20 (66.72%) belongs to middle class family.