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Quality of public school toilets and the frequency of changing sanitary napkins among students in public secondary schools in the City of Manila, Philippines
- Source :
- Tropical Medicine and Health, Tropical Medicine and Health, Vol 47, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2019)
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Background In sub-tropical countries, poor menstrual hygiene management has been reported. One cause of poor menstrual hygiene management can be poor quality toilets. However, associations between poor quality toilets and menstrual-related behaviors have been poorly understood. The present study aimed to assess the association between the quality of school toilets and the frequency of changing sanitary napkins in school toilet among Filipino students. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in six secondary schools of the City of Manila, Philippines, in 2017. A self-administered survey questionnaire with female students collected data on the outcome variable, self-reported daily frequency of changing sanitary napkins in school toilet, and other predictor variables. An observational survey collected data on the main predictor variable, surveyor-rated toilet quality variables. A total of 526 students were included in the analyses. Logistic regression with generalized estimating equation model was used to assess the association between the outcome and predictor variables. Results No significant association was found both between toilet quality and the outcome. Although the association was not significant, the odds ratio (OR) of “sanitary bin is available in toilet” was 2.54 compared to “sanitary bin is not available in toilet.” The results of multivariate analysis showed that participants who reported stronger perceived behavioral control or stronger subjective norm were significantly more likely to change sanitary napkins, compared to those with lower perceived control score or lower subjective norm score, respectively (adjusted OR 2.29, 95% confidence interval 1.24 to 4.25; adjusted OR 2.63, 95% confidence interval 1.45 to 4.76). Conclusions The present study showed that the quality of school toilets was not associated with the frequency of changing sanitary napkins among the studied population. However, it does not mean that the cause-effect relationship was rejected. Further studies involving more schools are necessary to confirm this relationship. Improving subjective norm and perceived behavior control might improve menstrual hygiene behavior.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
lcsh:Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
Multivariate analysis
lcsh:RC955-962
Menstrual hygiene management
education
030231 tropical medicine
Population
Adolescents
Logistic regression
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Environmental health
medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
Generalized estimating equation
The Philippines
Toilet
education.field_of_study
Research
Public health
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Odds ratio
School health
Theory of planned behavior
Infectious Diseases
Observational study
Psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 13494147
- Volume :
- 47
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Tropical Medicine and Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....627790340c05fc9fe4b2d9c7d522737f