Cargando…
Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study
BACKGROUND: Increased education of girls in developing contexts is associated with a number of important positive health, social, and economic outcomes for a community. The event of menarche tends to coincide with girls' transitions from primary to secondary education and may constitute a barri...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2012
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485220/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23118968 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048274 |
_version_ | 1782248260565467136 |
---|---|
author | Montgomery, Paul Ryus, Caitlin R. Dolan, Catherine S. Dopson, Sue Scott, Linda M. |
author_facet | Montgomery, Paul Ryus, Caitlin R. Dolan, Catherine S. Dopson, Sue Scott, Linda M. |
author_sort | Montgomery, Paul |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Increased education of girls in developing contexts is associated with a number of important positive health, social, and economic outcomes for a community. The event of menarche tends to coincide with girls' transitions from primary to secondary education and may constitute a barrier for continued school attendance and performance. Following the MRC Framework for Complex Interventions, a pilot controlled study was conducted in Ghana to assess the role of sanitary pads in girls' education. METHODS: A sample of 120 schoolgirls between the ages of 12 and 18 from four villages in Ghana participated in a non-randomized trial of sanitary pad provision with education. The trial had three levels of treatment: provision of pads with puberty education; puberty education alone; or control (no pads or education). The primary outcome was school attendance. RESULTS: After 3 months, providing pads with education significantly improved attendance among participants, (lambda 0.824, F = 3.760, p<.001). After 5 months, puberty education alone improved attendance to a similar level (M = 91.26, SD = 7.82) as sites where pads were provided with puberty education (Rural M = 89.74, SD = 9.34; Periurban M = 90.54, SD = 17.37), all of which were higher than control (M = 84.48, SD = 12.39). The total improvement through pads with education intervention after 5 months was a 9% increase in attendance. After 3 months, providing pads with education significantly improved attendance among participants. The changes in attendance at the end of the trial, after 5 months, were found to be significant by site over time. With puberty education alone resulting in a similar attendance level. CONCLUSION: This pilot study demonstrated promising results of a low-cost, rapid-return intervention for girls' education in a developing context. Given the considerable development needs of poorer countries and the potential of young women there, these results suggest that a large-scale cluster randomized trial is warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry PACTR201202000361337 |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3485220 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-34852202012-11-01 Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study Montgomery, Paul Ryus, Caitlin R. Dolan, Catherine S. Dopson, Sue Scott, Linda M. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Increased education of girls in developing contexts is associated with a number of important positive health, social, and economic outcomes for a community. The event of menarche tends to coincide with girls' transitions from primary to secondary education and may constitute a barrier for continued school attendance and performance. Following the MRC Framework for Complex Interventions, a pilot controlled study was conducted in Ghana to assess the role of sanitary pads in girls' education. METHODS: A sample of 120 schoolgirls between the ages of 12 and 18 from four villages in Ghana participated in a non-randomized trial of sanitary pad provision with education. The trial had three levels of treatment: provision of pads with puberty education; puberty education alone; or control (no pads or education). The primary outcome was school attendance. RESULTS: After 3 months, providing pads with education significantly improved attendance among participants, (lambda 0.824, F = 3.760, p<.001). After 5 months, puberty education alone improved attendance to a similar level (M = 91.26, SD = 7.82) as sites where pads were provided with puberty education (Rural M = 89.74, SD = 9.34; Periurban M = 90.54, SD = 17.37), all of which were higher than control (M = 84.48, SD = 12.39). The total improvement through pads with education intervention after 5 months was a 9% increase in attendance. After 3 months, providing pads with education significantly improved attendance among participants. The changes in attendance at the end of the trial, after 5 months, were found to be significant by site over time. With puberty education alone resulting in a similar attendance level. CONCLUSION: This pilot study demonstrated promising results of a low-cost, rapid-return intervention for girls' education in a developing context. Given the considerable development needs of poorer countries and the potential of young women there, these results suggest that a large-scale cluster randomized trial is warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry PACTR201202000361337 Public Library of Science 2012-10-31 /pmc/articles/PMC3485220/ /pubmed/23118968 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048274 Text en © 2012 Montgomery et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Montgomery, Paul Ryus, Caitlin R. Dolan, Catherine S. Dopson, Sue Scott, Linda M. Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study |
title | Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study |
title_full | Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study |
title_fullStr | Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study |
title_short | Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana: A Pilot Study |
title_sort | sanitary pad interventions for girls' education in ghana: a pilot study |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485220/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23118968 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048274 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT montgomerypaul sanitarypadinterventionsforgirlseducationinghanaapilotstudy AT ryuscaitlinr sanitarypadinterventionsforgirlseducationinghanaapilotstudy AT dolancatherines sanitarypadinterventionsforgirlseducationinghanaapilotstudy AT dopsonsue sanitarypadinterventionsforgirlseducationinghanaapilotstudy AT scottlindam sanitarypadinterventionsforgirlseducationinghanaapilotstudy |