Knowledge On Menstruation, Menstrual Hygiene Management Practices And School Absenteeism Among Adolescent School Girls In Kigamboni District, Dar Es Salaam

Abstract

Background: Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is an essential aspect of hygiene for women and adolescent girls. It is associated with negative implications if ineffectively and unhygienically managed. School girls require a supportive MHM environment in order to ensure regular school attendance and participation. In Tanzania, little is known about schoolgirls‘ knowledge, practice of MHM and magnitude of school absenteeism during menstruation. This study aimed to assess the knowledge on menstruation, menstruation hygiene management practices and school absenteeism among school girls in Kigamboni district, Dar es Salaam Methods: A cross-sectional study employing mixed methods was conducted in 10 secondary schools in Kigamboni district, Dar es salaam. A total of 444 and 50 school girls aged between 13-19 years who had attained menarche were recruited for the quantitative and qualitative data collection methods respectively. Structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. Bivariate analysis was used to establish if there was an association between the dependent and independent variables, with those with a p-value of < 0.2 subjected for multivariate analysis to establish the degree of association. In addition, five Focused Group Discussions and ten in Depth Interviews were used to collect qualitative data. Qualitative data was transcribed verbatim, coded and organized into themes using thematic analysis Results: In this study 58% of the school girls had good knowledge on menstruation and 67.8% reported poor menstrual hygiene management practices. Mothers, teachers, sisters and fellow students were the most common source of information on menstruation. Furthermore, there was a significant positive association between good knowledge on menstruation and parent‘s educational status and occupation (AOR= 2.19, CI: 1.09-4.14) and (AOR= 2.28, CI: 1.13-4.57) respectively. School absenteeism during menstruation was reported among 26% of the school girls where Menstrual pain and lack of absorbent materials were the most common indicated reasons for the school absence. vi Conclusion: Despite good knowledge on menstruation, the practice of menstrual hygiene management among school girls was poor. Additionally, inadequate menstrual hygiene management practices were shown to contribute to school girl‘s school absenteeism hence they should form the emphasis of future interventions