Retaining Female Students in School: Intervention for Improving Menstrual Hygiene

Abstract

The study investigated retaining female students in school through Menstrual Hygiene Management Intervention. The study adopted an action research design that aimed to provide an intervention to the problem of frequent absenteeism in school as a result of poor menstrual hygiene management. A random sampling technique was used to select two primary schools in Malete and Elemere. Participants consisted of all female teachers and pupils in the two primary schools. Six research instruments were developed and used for the research, namely: Teachers' Knowledge Test (TKT), Pupils' Knowledge Test (PKT), Teachers' Attitude towards Menstrual Hygiene Management (TAMHM), Pupils' Attitude towards Menstrual Hygiene Management (PAMHM), Manual for Teaching Menstrual Hygiene Management (MTMHM), and School Attendance Proforma (SAP). TKT, PKT, TAMHM, and PAMHM were tested for reliability using test�retest. Five research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were all tested at a 0.05 level of significance. A dependent t-test was used in testing all the hypotheses. The result showed that there was a significant difference in the attitude of pupils towards menstrual hygiene before and after menstrual hygiene intervention. There was a significant difference in the attitude of teachers towards menstrual hygiene before and after menstrual hygiene intervention. There was a significant difference in pupils’ knowledge of menstrual hygiene before and after menstrual hygiene intervention. There was a significant difference in teachers’ knowledge of menstrual hygiene before and after menstrual hygiene intervention. There was a significant difference in pupils’ school attendance before and after menstrual hygiene intervention. Based on the findings, it was recommended that government should organize sensitization and training programs for teachers, parents, and pupils across all primary schools in Nigeria on menstrual hygiene management.