Subtopic Deep Dive

Menstrual Hygiene and Adolescent Girls
Research Guide

What is Menstrual Hygiene and Adolescent Girls?

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) refers to access to materials for absorbing menstrual blood, privacy for changing, washing facilities, and education to manage menstruation safely among adolescent girls.

Studies link poor MHM to school absenteeism in low-resource settings, with cross-sectional surveys in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Ghana showing 20-50% absenteeism rates. Key papers include Tegegne and Sisay (2014, 324 citations) in Northeast Ethiopia and Davis et al. (2018, 181 citations) in Indonesia. Over 10 listed papers from 2011-2023 examine interventions like education and product provision.

Curated Papers

Key Challenges

Why It Matters

Poor MHM causes school absenteeism, reducing girls' education and future opportunities; Tegegne and Sisay (2014) found 37% absenteeism in Ethiopia due to lack of facilities. Interventions improve attendance and health; Shah et al. (2022) reported better outcomes in Gambia with hygiene education. This promotes gender equity by addressing barriers in low-resource areas, as shown in Mohammed et al. (2020) in rural Ghana.

Key Research Challenges

School Absenteeism Linkage

Quantifying MHM's causal impact on absenteeism remains challenging due to confounding factors like poverty. Tegegne and Sisay (2014) used cross-sectional data showing association but not causation. Longitudinal studies are scarce, limiting intervention evidence.

Cultural Barrier Measurement

Assessing stigma and knowledge gaps in diverse settings hinders effective programs. Davis et al. (2018) identified poor knowledge in Indonesia linked to absenteeism. Validated scales for cultural factors are needed.

Scalable Intervention Design

Low-resource areas lack affordable, sustainable products and facilities. Shah et al. (2022) in Gambia noted drop-out risks without access. Evaluating long-term efficacy requires more RCTs.

Essential Papers

Menstrual hygiene management and school absenteeism among female adolescent students in Northeast Ethiopia

Teketo Kassaw Tegegne, Mitike Molla Sisay · 2014 · BMC Public Health · 324 citations

Menstrual hygiene management and school absenteeism among adolescent students in Indonesia: evidence from a cross‐sectional school‐based survey

Jessica Davis, Alison Macintyre, Mitsunori Odagiri et al. · 2018 · Tropical Medicine & International Health · 181 citations

Abstract Objective To assess the prevalence of menstrual hygiene management ( MHM ) knowledge and practices among adolescent schoolgirls in Indonesia, and assess factors associated with poor MHM an...

Menstrual Hygiene Management and School Absenteeism among Adolescents in Ghana: Results from a School-Based Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural Community

Shamsudeen Mohammed, Roderick Larsen‐Reindorf, Issahaku Awal · 2020 · International Journal of Reproductive Medicine · 83 citations

The study aimed to deepen our understanding of the menstrual hygiene management (MHM) of adolescents and the influence of menstruation on school absenteeism. We employed a school-based cross-sectio...

Effects of Menstrual Health and Hygiene on School Absenteeism and Drop-Out among Adolescent Girls in Rural Gambia

Vishna Shah, Helen Nabwera, Bakary Sonko et al. · 2022 · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 68 citations

Poor knowledge and management of menstruation impacts girls’ school attendance and academic performance. This paper aims to explore how menstrual hygiene management practices and related factors in...

GAMBARAN PERILAKU PERSONAL HYGIENE MENSTRUASI REMAJA PUTRI YANG MENGIKUTI PELATIHAN DAN PEMBINAAN PKPR DI SMP PGRI 13 WILAYAH KERJA PUSKESMAS SINDANG BARANG KOTA BOGOR TAHUN 2017

Jeanita Hanissa, Andreanda Nasution, Asri Masitha Arsyati · 2017 · HEARTY · 17 citations

Praktek dalam menjaga kebersihan diri (personal hygiene) saat menstruasi adalah perilaku penting dalam kesehatan khususnya pada remaja putri. Dampak dari tidak menjaga kebersihan diri saat menstrua...

School Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: A Systematic Review of an Effect on Health, Attendance, Regularity, and Educational Achievements

Mohan Kumar Sharma, Shanti Prasad Khanal, Ramesh Adhikari · 2022 · Scholars Journal · 9 citations

The review was started aiming to assess the effect of school-based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities on students’ health status, school regularity, and educational achievement. Two m...

Menstruation-Related School Absenteeism: An Urban Centre Study in the Northern Region of Ghana

Mubarick Nungbaso Asumah, Qorinah Estiningtyas Sakilah Adnani, Edem Kojo Dzantor et al. · 2023 · Women · 7 citations

Menstruation-related school absenteeism significantly affects girls’ academic progress and general wellbeing. This study aimed to assess menstruation-related school absenteeism in an urban populati...

Reading Guide

Foundational Papers

Start with Tegegne and Sisay (2014, 324 citations) for core Ethiopia absenteeism link via cross-sectional survey; Alam et al. (2011) for dysmenorrhea-school performance ties.

Recent Advances

Study Shah et al. (2022) on Gambia interventions reducing drop-outs; Asumah et al. (2023) on urban Ghana absenteeism; Wihdaturrahmah and Chuemchit (2023) on Indonesia determinants.

Core Methods

Cross-sectional surveys quantify practices and absenteeism (Tegegne 2014, Davis 2018); WASH facility assessments (Sharma 2022); knowledge scoring and multivariate regression for factors.

How PapersFlow Helps You Research Menstrual Hygiene and Adolescent Girls

Discover & Search

Research Agent uses searchPapers and citationGraph to map high-citation works like Tegegne and Sisay (2014, 324 citations), then findSimilarPapers reveals regional variants such as Davis et al. (2018) in Indonesia. exaSearch uncovers interventions in Ghana from Mohammed et al. (2020).

Analyze & Verify

Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to extract absenteeism rates from Shah et al. (2022), verifies correlations via runPythonAnalysis on survey data with pandas for statistical tests, and uses verifyResponse (CoVe) with GRADE grading to assess evidence quality on MHM-school links.

Synthesize & Write

Synthesis Agent detects gaps like missing RCTs in absenteeism causation, flags contradictions between cross-sectional studies. Writing Agent employs latexEditText for drafting reviews, latexSyncCitations for 10+ papers, and latexCompile for publication-ready reports with exportMermaid for intervention flowcharts.

Use Cases

"Analyze absenteeism rates from Ethiopian and Ghanaian MHM studies using stats."

Research Agent → searchPapers (Tegegne 2014, Mohammed 2020) → Analysis Agent → readPaperContent → runPythonAnalysis (pandas correlation on rates) → statistical output with p-values and visualizations.

"Draft a review on MHM interventions in low-resource schools with citations."

Synthesis Agent → gap detection → Writing Agent → latexEditText (intro/methods) → latexSyncCitations (Davis 2018 et al.) → latexCompile → PDF report on equity impacts.

"Find code for analyzing survey data on menstrual hygiene practices."

Research Agent → paperExtractUrls (from Sharma 2022 WASH review) → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → Analysis Agent → runPythonAnalysis (adapt survey stats code) → customized absenteeism model.

Automated Workflows

Deep Research workflow conducts systematic reviews by chaining searchPapers on 50+ MHM papers, citationGraph clustering by region, and GRADE-graded summaries for absenteeism evidence. DeepScan applies 7-step verification to cross-sectional data from Tegegne (2014) and Shah (2022), checkpointing stats with runPythonAnalysis. Theorizer generates hypotheses on scalable interventions from patterns in Davis (2018) and Mohammed (2020).

Try Doxa for Menstrual Hygiene and Adolescent Girls Research

Frequently Asked Questions

What defines menstrual hygiene management?

MHM includes access to absorbent materials, privacy, washing, and education for safe menstruation among adolescent girls, as studied in low-resource school settings.

What methods dominate MHM research?

Cross-sectional school-based surveys measure knowledge, practices, and absenteeism, as in Davis et al. (2018) and Mohammed et al. (2020); few use longitudinal or RCT designs.

What are key papers?

Tegegne and Sisay (2014, 324 citations) links MHM to 37% absenteeism in Ethiopia; Davis et al. (2018, 181 citations) in Indonesia; Shah et al. (2022, 68 citations) on Gambia drop-outs.

What open problems exist?

Causal evidence from RCTs is limited; scalable, culturally adapted interventions need evaluation; long-term impacts on education and health require longitudinal tracking.