Assessment of an Educational Intervention on the Perception of Adolescent Girls towards Menstrual Hygiene in Ogun State, Nigeria
Abstract:
In low and
middle-income countries, menstruation is impeded by several misconceptions, taboos
and shrouded in secrecy. This serves as a major challenge to proper Education regarding
menstrual hygiene and has blocked the access of adolescent girls to the right kind
of information, thereby influencing a negative outcome associated with harmful behaviours. The objective of the study was to investigate the assessment
of an educational intervention on the perception
of adolescent girls towards menstrual hygiene in Ogun state, Nigeria. The study utilized a quasi-experimental
design. One hundred and twenty (120) in-school adolescent girls were selected through
a multistage sampling technique from four (4) secondary schools
within four (4) local government areas in Ogun State, Nigeria. A validated 23-items
questionnaire measured on a 69-point rating scale with a Cronbach Alpha scores 0.79
was used for data collection. The mean
±SD age and age
at menarche of adolescent girls was 14.92±1.82; 12.73±1.38. The majority of respondents had low scores of perceptions.
The educational intervention had an effective change in the level of perception
of adolescent schoolgirls between baseline and the 6th-week follow-up,
indicating a mean difference of 26.70 (p<0.01) for the peer-led, 26.54(p<0.01)
parent-led, 20.16(p<0.01) parent and peer-led and a decrease in mean in the control
group (-0.17; p=0.866). The peer-led educational approach had a better impact on
adolescent girls’ perception compared to other educational approaches. Hence, this
is an indication that peer-education strategies should be utilized for further interventions
and in reaching out to adolescents.
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