| Summary: | Introduction
Menstrual hygiene practices refers to
maintaining specific hygiene during menstrual periods.
Excused or unexcused school absenteeism can be attributed
to adopted menstrual hygiene practices. This study aimed
to assess the prevalence of school absenteeism during
menstrual cycle and to explore the association of menstrual
hygiene practices with school absenteeism among schoolgoing
adolescent girls in Bangladesh.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted from April
to November 2019 based on a sample of 442 school-going
adolescent girls (aged 10–19 years) from randomly selected
nine Girls’ Schools in the Dhaka division, Bangladesh. Data
were collected by an interviewer-administered questionnaire
and a multiple regression model was applied to assess factors
associated with school absenteeism.
Results
The prevalence of school absenteeism was (35.1%)
among school-going adolescent girls in Bangladesh.
Factors associated with school absenteeism included older
adolescent girls (AOR=2.97; 95% CI: 1.66–5.24, p<0.05),
with an illiterate mother (AOR=5.36; 95% CI: 1.91–12.44,
p<0.05) and illiterate father (AOR=4.66; 95% CI: 1.79–11.24,
p<0.001), from single families (AOR=2.54; 95% CI: 1.45–4.47,
p<0.001), who did not know about the menstruation cycle
before menarche (AOR=2.14; 95% CI: 1.32–3.48, p<0.001)
and who practised poor hygiene management (AOR=5.66;
95% CI: 2.73–15.32, p<0.001). Poor hygiene management
including the lack of sanitary pads, the washing of a reusable
cloth without soap/antiseptics, and lack of bathing and
cleaning external genitalia, were factors associated with
school absenteeism.
Conclusions
The study findings may help governmental and
non-governmental organizations design interventions to
improve knowledge on the menstrual cycle and so reduce
school absenteeism during menstrual periods.
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