A Hospital-based Cross-sectional Study on Menstrual Hygiene Awareness among Patients and Caregivers

Introduction: Menstruation is the cyclic physiologic uterine bleeding due to the shedding of the endometrium following the interplay of hormones. Menstrual hygiene is important for the overall health and well-being and prevention of various diseases, but awareness regarding the topic is inadequate, especially among men and boys of the family and community who have an important influence in the experiences of menstruators. Objective: To describe and compare the extent of awareness regarding menstrual hygiene among males and females attending a tertiary care teaching hospital in Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on the patients and caregivers attending a tertiary care hospital in Andhra Pradesh. The questionnaire was designed after reviewing the knowledge gap from the available literature. The purposive sampling method was used to recruit participants. A questionnaire was administered in the participants after their consent. Data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed using STATA 18.0. Results: A total sample of 410 was achieved, the majority (56%) being females. One-third of the male participants (33%) were professionals, whereas 71.9% females were unemployed/homemakers. Among the five domains studied, the majority of the right answers were given by females, except for questions related to sanitation, and 35.5% females and 24.2% males had overall awareness. Conclusion: Awareness regarding menstrual hygiene is not optimal, especially among the male gender, and there is a necessity of men to know about menstruation and about its cause for providing adequate support to women.