Menstruation knowledge and its impact on School Attendance and Anxiety Amongst girls in a Rural Community

Abstract

Background/Objective: Among the gynecological problems, menstrual problems are the major
ones, especially among teenage school girls. The menstrual period has a notable role in school
students' academic performance and is one of the main reasons behind their short-term absence
from class. This project has been designed to explore the impact of menstruation on academic
performance amongst girls from a rural community in a developing country. Subjects and
Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted in this study. The study was
conducted among 55 girls for the duration of their four menstrual cycles, 2021 Jan to April 2021.
A pre-validated questionnaire was adopted for data collection, categorized into three sections.
Section A: was an interviewing assessment sheet to collect socio-demographic data. Section B:
was about the menstrual cycle and pain. Section C: Included questions on the impact of the
menstrual period on the academic performance of students and their anxiety about every
menstrual period. Collected data were analyzed using necessary descriptive and inferential
statistics. This study represented a significant relationship between dysmenorrhea and academic
performance in selected domains. We adopted multivariable logistic regression analysis to
determine girls’ anxiety with their absence from school for four menstrual cycles. Results:
Comprehensively, 55.26% of girls from the rural community pointed out being anxious about
their menstrual periods. Anxiety was exorbitant among those who believed in misconceptions
about the menstrual cycle, avoiding physical activity, lower self-confidence managing those
days, and worrying about teasing from peer groups. Premenstrual pain and pain during
menstruation were also significantly associated with school absence. Conclusion: Though
anxiety was not associated with the participants, knowledge, the impact on mental health needs
to be focused on to render relevant strategies to enhance and motivate school girls’ education.