A STUDY TO ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE REGARDING ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES ON MENSTRUATION AMONG EARLY ADOLESCENT GIRLS STUDYING IN SELECTED SCHOOLS, PUNJAB

Background: Adolescence is a period of rapid transition in life from childhood to adulthood. Menarche is a significant milestone in the transitory developmental journey of an adolescent. A normal menstrual cycle is an important determinant of reproductive development during adolescence. An adolescent girl should be made aware of the phenomenon of menstruation at least a little ahead of its occurrence, so as to enable her to accept it as a normal developmental process and manage it appropriately. Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to the females. The first menstruation (menarche) occurs between 11 and 15 years with a mean of 13 year Menstruation is still regarded as something unclean or dirty in Indian society. Objective: The Investigator Conducted the study with an objective to assess the knowledge regarding adaptive strategies on menstruation among early adolescent girls studying in selected schools Punjab. Conceptual frame work: Modified Conceptual frame work on Health Belief Model (1950) Methodology: A quantitative research approach was adopted for this study and descriptive survey design was employed to assess the knowledge regarding adaptive strategies on menstruation among early adolescent girls in selected schools, Punjab. Total 200 early adolescent girls were selected by using, convenient sampling technique. The knowledge questionnaire regarding menstrual adaptive strategies and checklist regarding menstrual practices was used for data collection by self report method. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Result: The study results revealed that 89.5% subjects had average knowledge score regarding adaptive strategies on menstruation while 5.5% subjects had good knowledge score regarding adaptive strategies on menstruation only 5% subjects had below average knowledge score regarding adaptive strategies on menstruation. Conclusion: The finding of the study conducted that the strong need of creating awareness and providing knowledge related adaptive strategies in menstruation as per their need requirement, investigator has delivered health teaching programme to the subjects even though it was not a part of the research objectives.