Abstract

One critical area is menstrual hygiene and management, which is absent from much of the discourse, policy and practice in keeping a woman’s private part clean. The objectives of this study were to identify women’s information about menstrual hygiene management, and to explore the association between some socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics with knowledge. A descriptive study on the knowledge of women attending primary health care (PHC) concerning hygiene during the menstrual period was carried out in Sulaimani City from 20 July, 2012 to 30 June,  2013.  Data were collected retrospectively by an interview with clients visiting PHC centers. Using non-probability sampling, a purposive sample of 604 females of reproductive age, were selected for the purpose of the study. The data were collected through an anonymous questionnaire, which comprised three parts: demographic characteristics, menstrual history and knowledge regarding the menstrual period. Data were analyzed through statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) (18.0) version of packet program. Frequency, percentage, standard deviation and chi-square were used in the statistical assessment, and p<0.05 was accepted as the statistical significance. Majority (56%) of the participants had adequate knowledge regarding menstruation hygiene, and the study also revealed that 81% of these samples use sanitary pad, 2.6% use new cloth piece and 16.4% use pieces of old cloth. The reason for not using sanitary pad for 42.6% of the study group were because it was not available for them, but 34.8% of the sample do not know why they do not use sanitary pad. 19.1% returned that they found it too difficult to dispose because they thought that disposal of pad is taboo in the Islam religion. A highly significant difference appears between women’s knowledge regarding hygiene and the education level, occupation, marital status, residency and type of family, while no significant difference was found in the monthly income of the sample. Researchers conclude that there is a general deficiency in knowledge, especially in a bath and changing of pads. Some of the women use old cloth because pad is not easily available and/or difficult to dispose. The levels of knowledge regarding hygiene during menstruation increase with increase in women’s age, the number of children, education, paid employment, and extended family. Nearly all women have a positive attitude to learning knowledge regarding menstruation period.

Key words: Knowledge, hygiene, menstrual period.