Menstrual Hygiene Knowledge among Female Secondary School Students in Udenu Local Government Area, Enugu State

Abstract

Globally, menstrual hygiene is a major social and public health issue that affect women. The study assessed knowledge about menstrual hygiene among female secondary school students in Udenu Local Government Area (LGA), Enugu State. The cross-sectional research design was adopted, and a total of 2,421 female secondary school students of 400 female students participated in the study. The sample size selection was done using a two-stage sampling procedure. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire called “menstrual hygiene knowledge questionnaire (MHKQ)” which was validated by three experts. Frequencies and percentages were used for answering all the research questions while chi-square statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that female secondary school students had moderate knowledge (54.9%) of menstrual hygiene. The percentage response in JSS1-3 was 56.2% which was slightly higher than those in SSS1-3 with 54.4%, representing moderate menstrual hygiene knowledge statistically, no significant association was observed in the menstrual hygiene knowledge of the respondents based on class level. The study recommended among others, that the school administration and health facilities should implement various awareness and sensitization programmes regarding menstrual hygiene knowledge particularly in Udenu LGA, Enugu State.