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Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study

Adolescent girls face social, psychological, and physical problems managing menstruation in schools in low-resource settings. This study aimed to evaluate the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Wakiso and Kalungu districts, Uganda, in preparation for a subsequen...

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Autores principales: Ssemata, Andrew Sentoogo, Ndekezi, Denis, Kansiime, Catherine, Bakanoma, Robert, Tanton, Clare, Nelson, Kate Andrews, Hytti, Laura, Neema, Stella, Torondel, Belen, Seeley, Janet, Weiss, Helen A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10686490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38019777
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002665
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author Ssemata, Andrew Sentoogo
Ndekezi, Denis
Kansiime, Catherine
Bakanoma, Robert
Tanton, Clare
Nelson, Kate Andrews
Hytti, Laura
Neema, Stella
Torondel, Belen
Seeley, Janet
Weiss, Helen A.
author_facet Ssemata, Andrew Sentoogo
Ndekezi, Denis
Kansiime, Catherine
Bakanoma, Robert
Tanton, Clare
Nelson, Kate Andrews
Hytti, Laura
Neema, Stella
Torondel, Belen
Seeley, Janet
Weiss, Helen A.
author_sort Ssemata, Andrew Sentoogo
collection PubMed
description Adolescent girls face social, psychological, and physical problems managing menstruation in schools in low-resource settings. This study aimed to evaluate the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Wakiso and Kalungu districts, Uganda, in preparation for a subsequent menstrual health intervention trial to improve education, health and wellbeing. We conducted a qualitative rapid assessment in 75 secondary schools in Uganda. This involved conducting in-depth interviews with 150 head/senior teachers and 274 students, 26 Focus Group Discussions with students, and 13 transect walks to observe school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities between May and October 2021. Due to COVID-19 related school closures, face-to-face research activities were halted and in-depth interviews were conducted over phone and replaced focus group discussions. We employed a thematic framework analysis approach using the social-ecological model (which focuses on the complex interplay between individual, interpersonal, institutional, and societal factors) to generate themes and key concepts. Participants described the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools at the individual level (knowledge gaps on menstruation before menarche, negative norms and beliefs about menstrual health); interpersonal level (limited psycho-social support, myths and misconceptions about the disposal of sanitary materials and pain relief, menstrual hygiene management (MHM) support from school nurses, peers and senior teachers); institutional level (non-implementation of Government circulars on MHM, lack of school-level guidelines policies and programs on MHM and poor WASH facilities, i.e. lack of soap, safe water and unclean toilets); and societal level (MHM programmes provided by civil society groups, health workers, and students’ school associations). The findings showed individual, societal and institutional burdens related to menstrual experiences. Multi-level evidence-based interventions aimed at improving the social and physical environment for menstrual health among school-going girls are needed.
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spelling pubmed-106864902023-11-30 Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study Ssemata, Andrew Sentoogo Ndekezi, Denis Kansiime, Catherine Bakanoma, Robert Tanton, Clare Nelson, Kate Andrews Hytti, Laura Neema, Stella Torondel, Belen Seeley, Janet Weiss, Helen A. PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article Adolescent girls face social, psychological, and physical problems managing menstruation in schools in low-resource settings. This study aimed to evaluate the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Wakiso and Kalungu districts, Uganda, in preparation for a subsequent menstrual health intervention trial to improve education, health and wellbeing. We conducted a qualitative rapid assessment in 75 secondary schools in Uganda. This involved conducting in-depth interviews with 150 head/senior teachers and 274 students, 26 Focus Group Discussions with students, and 13 transect walks to observe school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities between May and October 2021. Due to COVID-19 related school closures, face-to-face research activities were halted and in-depth interviews were conducted over phone and replaced focus group discussions. We employed a thematic framework analysis approach using the social-ecological model (which focuses on the complex interplay between individual, interpersonal, institutional, and societal factors) to generate themes and key concepts. Participants described the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools at the individual level (knowledge gaps on menstruation before menarche, negative norms and beliefs about menstrual health); interpersonal level (limited psycho-social support, myths and misconceptions about the disposal of sanitary materials and pain relief, menstrual hygiene management (MHM) support from school nurses, peers and senior teachers); institutional level (non-implementation of Government circulars on MHM, lack of school-level guidelines policies and programs on MHM and poor WASH facilities, i.e. lack of soap, safe water and unclean toilets); and societal level (MHM programmes provided by civil society groups, health workers, and students’ school associations). The findings showed individual, societal and institutional burdens related to menstrual experiences. Multi-level evidence-based interventions aimed at improving the social and physical environment for menstrual health among school-going girls are needed. Public Library of Science 2023-11-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10686490/ /pubmed/38019777 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002665 Text en © 2023 Ssemata et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ssemata, Andrew Sentoogo
Ndekezi, Denis
Kansiime, Catherine
Bakanoma, Robert
Tanton, Clare
Nelson, Kate Andrews
Hytti, Laura
Neema, Stella
Torondel, Belen
Seeley, Janet
Weiss, Helen A.
Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study
title Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study
title_full Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study
title_fullStr Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study
title_short Understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in Uganda: A qualitative methods study
title_sort understanding the social and physical menstrual health environment of secondary schools in uganda: a qualitative methods study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10686490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38019777
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002665
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