Perception of the menstruation among university students
A. Kul
Uludag, O. Yilmaz, I. Unluoglu, S. Ozalp
Eskisehir Osmangazi University School of
Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Eskisehir, Turkey, and Eskisehir Osmangazi
University School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Eskisehir, Turkey
Objective The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge
of university students about menstruation, especially of male students and to
know whether there is any social factor affecting male students’ levels of
information
Design and methods A special questionnaire was designed for the
students of Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Pharmacy,
Faculty of Engineering and the Medical Services Vocational School in an aim to
specify menstruation-related questions such as: what the menstruation is, what
the menstruation reminds of, what physical and psychological changes they
notice during menstruation, in whom they notice these changes, whether there is
any effected daily activity they observed, the information origin of their
knowledge about sexuality, whether they were taking any lessons about
reproductive health and if so, whether it was enough or not or which sexual
education (SE) topics they would like to be educated.
Results Two-hundred
participants aged 17 to 28 years were enrolled into the present study, of whom
97 (48.5%) were female and 103 (51.5 %) were male. Eighty-nine (44.9%) women and
98 men (48.5%) described the menstruation as a cyclic interval lasting from the
first day of a menstrual flow to the beginning of the next one (p>0.05).
Ninety-six (48.2%) women and 92 (46.2%) men stated that it was a cyclic change
important for all women (p>0.05) Eighty-three (42.1%) women and 63 (32%) men
described it as a period during which women are sensitive and need more
understanding than other ordinary days (p<0,05). Seventy participants declared that the menstrual cycle clearly affects daily women's activities. There was no statistically significant difference observed between the participants who had the sexual education from any source and who had not (p>0,05).
Conclusions Given the results of this study, the physiologic
process of menstruation was regarded by both male and female students as an
important period that can affect women socially and as well as psychologically.
Obviously, every effort should be made to educate students about their sexual
health as to help them cope with their reproductive life including menstruation.