Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Menstrual Hygiene among Female Students in Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of female students in Federal University Kashere regarding menstrual hygiene to identify areas for improvement and inform the development of targeted educational programs. The specific objectives of this study are to determine the difference in the level of knowledge between adolescent and non-adolescent female students on menstrual hygiene, and to determine the difference of female students’ menstrual hygiene practices with mothers’ educational levels, correlation between attitudes toward menstrual hygiene to the socio-economic status of female students and menstrual hygiene practice. Four research questions were raised from the objectives and four hypotheses were hypothesized. A total of three hundred and seventy-two (372) female students of Federal University of Kashere were chosen as the sample for the research using convenience sampling method. A quantitative cross-sectional survey of 372 female students selected from Federal University of Kashere was conducted using a structured questionnaire; data were analysed with SPSS 23 using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation. The findings of the research revealed that no difference in the level of knowledge between adolescents and adult female students of Federal University of Kashere. Similarly, there is no association between female students’ menstrual hygiene and mother’s level of education. More so, there is no correlation between attitudes toward menstrual hygiene to both the socio-economic status, and practice of menstrual hygiene among female students of Federal university of Kashere. Conclusively, there is 97% of the female students practice good menstrual hygiene, no difference in menstrual hygiene practices of female students and mothers’ level of education, no correlation of attitude toward menstrual hygiene to both socioeconomic status and menstrual hygiene practice of female students of Federal University of Kashere.