The perception of female youth regarding menstruation hygiene management in Kameeldrift, Tshwane

Abstract

The majority of the global female population is of reproductive age and yet access to appropriate resources, services and facilities for menstrual hygiene and management remains a neglected need within the global sanitation sector. This is despite, the growing global and local attention to menstruation hygiene and its impact on women and young girls. A majority of African countries (especially those in the sub-Sahara region) are still at a developing stage and by virtue of that, these countries have the potential to lag in certain spheres of development. An example, of such lagging, is seen especially in the access to basic social services, healthcare as well as reproductive hygiene services like menstruation hygiene management (MHM) resources. Therefore, the rationale of the study was to address the identified knowledge gap in the literature by conducting research specifically looking into the perceptions of female youth regarding MHM. The goal of the study was to explore and describe the perceptions of female youth regarding MHM in Kameeldrift, Tshwane. The study utilized a qualitative approach and employed the phenomenology research design, specifically the psychological subtype to get thick descriptions of the essence of the youths' lived experience of mensuration by combining textual and structural descriptions of the phenomenon. Ten participants were sampled through the snowball sampling method using the following inclusion criteria: the participant had to be a female; must have had a menstruation cycle; needs to be between the age of 18 to 36 years; must reside in Kameeldrift, Tshwane; should provide consent prior to undertaking the study; and be able to converse in either of these official languages Setswana, isiZulu and English. The female youth in the study were interviewed face-to-face guided by a semi-structured interview schedule, which allowed for the use of pre-determined and open-ended questions to discuss the perceptions of female youths on MHM. The findings indicated that the female youth in Kameeldrift possess good knowledge and practice of MHM. The study found out that the participants do not consistently use appropriate sanitary material and opt for unsafe/harmful sanitary material. The study also established that there are inadequate toilets and unavailability of bathroom services to support good menstruation hygiene practices. The findings also indicate that most of the participants were not aware of MHM programmes within the community. The study outlined that there are resources within Kameeldrift that aid women to have better MHM. The youths in the study highlighted that they had not seen Social Workers rendering services in the community concerning MHM. The study further outlined that the major sources of support regarding menstruation and MHM were female relatives and schools. From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the female youth in Kameeldrift possess relevant and adequate knowledge pertaining to MHM and the appropriate hygiene practices required for good female reproductive health despite having a poor understanding of the biological aspects of the menstrual cycle. This study further concludes that the gap in social work service provision in Kameeldrift exacerbates poor knowledge, education and lack of MHM services. Recommendations for young girls starting their periods’; government service delivery; MHM programmes and education as well as social work intervention pertaining to MHM are provided in the study.