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.
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