Abstract
Menstrual health and hygiene has strong inferences on the health and wellbeing of a woman in general and of the overall society, in particular. The study of United Nations, 2013 revealed that globally menstrual women make up half (49.58%) of the population. Therefore, it is important to not overlook a phenomenon that a large percentage of the population experiences this on regular basis. The challenge of addressing the socio-cultural taboos, beliefs, and misconceptions about menstruation, is further compounded by the low knowledge levels, understanding and awareness of menstruation health. In 2010, Government of India has launched ‘MHS’ for the promotion of menstrual health and hygiene among adolescent girls in rural areas. Therefore, there is a great demand and need for accurate and relevant communication strategy which have been credited with advocacy, behaviour changes and social mobilizations to approach in combating this issue. In the words of Cohen (1963), the media “may not be successful in telling their readers what to think, but are stunningly successful in telling their readers what to think about”. Thus, this study is an attempt to examine the communication strategy and its efficacy to encompass good menstrual information, knowledge which influences individual or community decisions that enhancing, motivating and mobilizing them towards the use of good health practices and responds to care interferences.
The main objective of the study is to target and tailor menstrual health and hygiene messages to the rural women to find out the best communication strategy. The research will be based on the empirical study, where the researcher will examine the efficacy of the selected medium to be used for the diffusion of health related programme. The study will adopt quasi-experimental method wherein villages of Gaya district of Bihar will be selected through multistage sampling. The sample from the study subject will be selected by probability sampling. The data collection technique will be an interview schedule and focus group discussions of the study subjects. Communication strategies evaluations were reviewed to determine their impact on awareness, information seeking, knowledge, attitude and behaviour change towards the use of good health practices and responds to care interferences. Further the study will be helpful for government and non-government organizations for disseminating health awareness related information and practices.
Key Words: Menstrual Health, Communication Strategy, Gaya District, Empirical Study, Bihar
Hello Professor
It was very interesting to read your detailed description of your study; however, I don't think I've come up with anything that would help your quest for communication strategies. You will probably be familiar with:
http://www.wateraid.org/~/media/Publications/menstrual-hygiene-south-asia.pdf.
and also this paper:
Mahon, T., & Fernandes, M. (2010). Menstrual hygiene in South Asia: a neglected issue for WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) programmes. Gender & Development, 18(1), 99-113.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13552071003600083
but I'm not sure whether it provides what you were hoping for.
This research might be of interest, but I have not seen the full text:
Cooper, S. C., & Koch, P. B. (2007). “Nobody told me nothin”: Communication about menstruation among low-income African American women. Women & health, 46(1), 57-78.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5815681_Nobody_Told_Me_Nothin_Communication_About_Menstruation_Among_Low-Income_African_American_Women
This book is from 1990, but I don't know if it would be useful:
Laws, S. (1991). Issues of blood: The politics of menstruation. Springer.
Although this is not in blue font, if it is copied, it does act as a link, providing the index of the book:
link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-1-349-21176-0%2F1.pdf
This discusses the concept but probably does not provide you with any new suggestions; I have the full text of this if it might be useful:
Yagnik, A. S. (2014). Reframing menstruation in India: Metamorphosis of the menstrual taboo with the changing media coverage. Health care for women international, 35(6), 617-633.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24180612
It will be interesting to see what other members suggest.
Very best wishes with your study,
Mary
Article “Nobody Told Me Nothin”: Communication About Menstruation Am...
Dear Mary,
Thanks a lot for valuable information and suggestions.
Regards.
Prof. Govind ji pandey
One of the effective communication strategy for menstruation health and hygiene campaign, is to have adolescent girls workshops.
We have been holding such workshops for adolescent girls of a resettlement colony Sunder Nagari, Delhi since the year 2000 and must have trained 700-800 girls till date. There are 8-10 topics that are covered in these 'Adolescent Girls' Workshops'. One of the topics is on Menstruation health and hygiene where we tell girls of 10 to 19 years old about the:
1. anatomy of female genitalia, and also male genitalia
2. the menstrual cycle, and
3. how to make a pad of clean cloth and how to wear it. How to dispose their pads.
4. What happens in males - semen production
5. Unprotected sex and the adverse effects - pregnancy (that may have to be aborted), STDs, HIV/AIDS.
Yes, we need to do more on this front.
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