Abstract:
Background: Menstruation is a normal physiological experience for adolescents and women of reproductive age. However, management of menstruation is associated with several challenges which can affect the overall health and wellbeing of women especially adolescents without the needed resources to effectively manage it. There is limited empirical evidence on period poverty and its associated factors among adolescent girls in senior high schools to inform effective health promotion interventions.
Aim: To assess period poverty and its associated factors amongst adolescent school girls at the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern region of Ghana
Methods: A school-based cross-sectional survey was conducted and a total of 270 adolescent girls were selected from four public senior high schools at the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality. A set of questionnaires measuring period poverty and its associated factors were administered to the students. Stata version 18 was used for data analysis and frequencies with confidence intervals as well as chi-square and logistic regression with a p-value set as 0.05 were used.
Results: The overall period poverty among adolescent school girls was 1.84 out of 3.00 indicating below average period poverty. Mean scores of 2.31, 2.03, 1.92 and 1.37 were observed for Material and Home Environment Needs, Change and Disposal Insecurity, Material reliability concerns and Transport and School Environment Needs sub-domains respectively. None of the socio-demographic factors (age, religion, class, programme of study) was statistically and significantly associated with period poverty among the girls. Economic factors as measured by perceived wealth status was associated with decreased period poverty. Parental communication about menstrual
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hygiene management was statistically and significantly associated with period poverty. Frequency of parental communication was also statistically and significantly associated with the experience of period poverty among adolescent school girls.
Conclusion: Adolescent schoolgirls at the senior high schools chosen at the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality experience marginally below average period poverty, which is heavily impacted by parental and economic circumstances. These results highlight the need for institutional interventions to address issues, particularly in the educational setting, as well as raising parental awareness of the importance of good reproductive health practices, such as teaching menstrual cleanliness, in order to mitigate the harmful effects of period poverty.
