Introduction : Adolescence in girls is marked by menstruation, which is surrounded by various psychological and religious barriers due to lack of knowledge about the process. The Menstrual Hygiene Programme in Tamil Nadu, implemented under the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), aims to promote menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls aged 10–19 years in rural areas. Without accurate understanding, menstruation can be distressing for a girl. Discussing this with a girl is important because the inaccurate and inadequate knowledge she acquires from peers and family members leads to a vicious cycle of misinformation. However, most adolescent girls in India have little knowledge on menstruation, reproduction and sexuality. Hence this study is attempted to compare the knowledge and attitude on menstruation among adolescent girls in rural and urban field practice areas of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Tamil Nadu.
Methods : A community based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted during April 2018 to Oct 2018 among adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 years, residing at the rural and urban field practice areas of Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu. About 256 adolescent girls in rural and 137 girls in urban area were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. The knowledge section consisted of 5 questions. Those who scored ?2 were considered to have poor knowledge, those who scored 3 were considered to have fair knowledge and who scored ?4 were considered to have fair knowledge about menstruation. The attitude section consisted of 3 questions. The score ?1 was considered unfavorable attitude and score ?2 was considered as favorable attitude towards menstruation.RESULTS : Overall, 38.28% and 54.74% girls in rural and urban respectively had good knowledge about menstruation. The attitude towards menstruation was favorable among 78.52% girls in rural and 64.23% girls in urban.
CONCLUSION : Overall, adolescent girls in urban had good knowledge compared to rural area. Overall attitude was better in girls in rural area than in urban area.