Vol. 8, Issue 5 (2019)

Author(s):
Deepa Amgoth and R Geetha Reddy

Abstract:
Adolescence is regarded, as a unique phase of human development. It is a transitional phase of growth and development between childhood and adulthood. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an adolescent as any person between ages 10 and 19. There is a substantial lacuna in the knowledge towards menstruation among adolescent girls; hence, an attempt was made to study menstruation and personal hygiene among adolescent girls of rural and urban locality. Ex post facto research design was used for the study. The locale of the study was Midjil for rural sample and Jadcherla town for urban sample of Mahabubnagar district in Telangana State. Sample size was 60 adolescent school going girls each of 30 from rural and 30 from urban community. The age group of respondents were 12 to 16 years was purposively selected. Structured questionnaire was used to examine the existing knowledge regarding menstruation. Frequency and percentage were used to analyse the collected data. Results revealed that prior information about menstruation before its attainment was available to 80 per cent of the adolescent girls in the present study. About 93 per cent of the respondents use sanitary pads during their periods which show good hygiene practice during menstruation. About 67 per cent of the respondents do not have knowledge about the organ from where bleeding occurs. Hence, awareness needs to be given to the respondents.