Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Menstrual Hygiene Management Program: The Case of Yuva Unstoppable Program, India

Palak Jalan, The University of Texas School of Public Health

Abstract

Menstruation is considered a huge social stigma in low income countries around the world (Johnston-Robledo & Chrisler, 2013) affecting the mental health (Kaltiala-Heino, Marttunen, Rantanen, & Rimpelä, 2003), well-being, and self-esteem of young adolescent girls in low income countries (Simmons, Blyth, Van Cleave, & Bush, 1979; Williams & Currie, 2000). It is also a factor of high rates of school absenteeism (Agarwal & Venkat, 2009; Oster & Thornton, 2011; Sharma, Malhotra, Taneja, & Saha, 2008). Research discusses various menstrual hygiene educational interventions (Agarwal & Venkat, 2009; Houston, Abraham, Huang, & D'Angelo, 2006) but there are few studies that evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Yuva Unstoppable’s menstrual hygiene management program. The variables used to measure the effect of YUMHM program were knowledge, attitude, limitation of daily activities, work missed and school absenteeism. This program was conducted in government schools of Ahmedabad, India and the study utilized surveys from three comparison schools, where no intervention was applied and three intervention schools where the intervention which included interactive menstrual hygiene education, distribution of menstrual education comic books and sanitary napkin and upgradation of toilet facilities were done was applied. Results show non-significant better knowledge, attitude, access, lower limitation of daily activities, and no effect on school absenteeism in the intervention population. Our study indicates effectiveness of Yuva Unstoppables’ program and indicates need of more robust data collected over a longer period of time to measure long term effect.

Subject Area

Educational evaluation|Public policy|Health education|South Asian Studies

Recommended Citation

Jalan, Palak, "Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Menstrual Hygiene Management Program: The Case of Yuva Unstoppable Program, India" (2017). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI10688365.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI10688365

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