Abstract

PERCEPTION OF MENSTRUATION& FAMILY PLANNING IN UNDERGRADUATE FEMALES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN KARAD

Dr. Sujata V. Patil*, Dr. Janhavi Ajay Shinde, Dr. Neha Anil Babar,
Dr. Riya Rupak Dash and Dr. Shrutika Manish Baldawa

Abstract

Introduction - Several factors including age, culture, ethnicity, religion, poor access to contraceptive services, peer pressure and lack of partner support were identified as contributing to the non-utilisation of contraceptives in the reproductive age group.[5] We aim to study the perception of menstruation and family planning in undergraduate females in Karad Taluka. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted in college going students of 2nd 3rd year. The college was selected on the basis that it was a female college with streams unrelated to biology. A pre-structured questionnaire containing open and close ended questions was used to collect data which was analysed in software-IBM SPSS Statistics 20 Setup. Frequency, percentage and Chi-square were used for analysing the data. Results: The common age group was 19 years, 76.65% were Hindus, maximum (69.4%) belonging to a nuclear family of socioeconomic class 5 (79.03%). It was observed that 77.4% of their mothers have primary level of education. The girls, despite being in the reproductive age group, 12.1% of them were unaware of the legal age of marriage for girls. 90.3% have misconceptions like menstrual blood is impure, 26.6% did not know about family planning methods and from the 73.4% who had heard about family planning 57.3% have incorrect knowledge.

Keywords: Perception, Family Planning, Menstruation.