Health seeking behaviour for menstrual problems among school girls and its associated factors: An implication for health education

A comparative interventional study was conducted over a four month period in 2 urban and 2 rural secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. Multistage sampling method was used to select 600 girls. Data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0. Chi – Square test and Multiple Logistic regression were used to analyze the data and level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results revealed that the mean age for attainment of menarche among urban respondents was 12.7 ± 1.15 years, with the mean age for attainment of menarche being 13 ± 1.24 years among the rural adolescents [t = 2.9; p= 0.002]. It was also observed that a sizeable proportion, (21.6%) of girls in the rural areas stayed away from school due to menstrual pains while 15.7% did so in the urban areas and more respondent indulged in self- medication (51.6% rural and 47.2% urban) rather than seeing a doctor for menstrual health problems (3.3% rural and 8% urban). Experience at the health clinic was found to be significantly associated with health seeking behaviour in the urban (OR = 0.09, C.I = 0.028-0.0279, p<0.001) while proximity showed a statistically significant association with the health seeking behaviour among the rural school girls(OR = 0.34, C.I = 0.116-0.992, p<0.001).