A cross-sectional study to investigate the impact of focused group discussion on menstrual hygiene among rural school girls of Southern Haryana, India

INTRODUCTION: Menstruation is a natural phenomenon among women who experience shedding of blood for 1-7 days every month which usually starts between age 11 and 14 years and continues until menopause at about 51 years of age. It is important to maintain menstrual hygiene, as poor practices increase vulnerability to reproductive and urinary tract infections. The present study was conducted with an aim to investigate the impact of focused group discussion (FGD) compared to didactic lectures (DLs) on the menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 649 school girls during January to August 2019 using a convenience sampling technique. After collecting baseline information using a pretested, predesigned, standardized questionnaire, the participants in the control and intervention groups were exposed for the DLs and FGD, respectively, and 1 month after such intervention, the same questionnaire was again self-administered by participants. All tests were performed at a 5% level of significance using SPSS (version 22.0). RESULTS: The baseline characteristics of both the groups such as participants' mean age, mean age of menarche, mother's literacy status, religion, type of family, and socioeconomic status were comparable. There was a difference in the knowledge and practice mean score of participants in the control group for pre- and postintervention, which was highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that menstrual hygiene is far from satisfactory among most of the school girls. The DLs and FGD have improved the menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices among school girls.