Survey on the Awareness of Menstruation and Menstruation-Related Problems in Athletes among Public High School Physical Education Teachers

Introduction

In recent years, the activities of female athletes have attracted increasing attention, especially regarding the effect of menstruation on athletic performance. Nevertheless, there are no surveys of these practices among coaches who train non-top-level athletes for general competition. This study aimed to investigate how high school physical education teachers approach the issue of menstruation and the awareness of menstruation-related problems.

Methods

This was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. The participants were 225 health and physical education teachers from 50 public high schools in the Aomori Prefecture. Participants were asked to answer a questionnaire regarding whether they talk to their female athletes about menstruation, keep track of their menstrual status, or make adjustments for menstruating students. Additionally, we asked for their views on painkiller use and their knowledge of menstruation.

Results

The participants included 183 men (81.3%) and 42 women (18.7%); data from 221 participants were analyzed after four teachers were excluded. Teachers of female athletes who communicated with students regarding their menstrual conditions and physical changes were predominantly female (p < 0.01). Regarding the use of painkillers for menstrual pain, more than 70% of respondents said that they recommended their active use. Few respondents reported that they would adjust a game because of athletes with menstrual problems. More than 90% of the respondents knew that there was a change in performance due to the menstrual cycle, and 57% of the respondents understood the relationship between amenorrhea and osteoporosis.

Conclusions

Menstruation-related problems are not only issues for top athletes but also important for general competition level athletes. Hence, even in high school clubs, teachers should be educated on how to deal with menstruation-related problems to prevent withdrawal from sports, maximize athletes' abilities, prevent future diseases, and preserve fertility.

Social impact of menstrual problems among adolescent school girls in rural Tamil Nadu

Background Adolescence is a period of physiological, psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood and is characterized by the onset of menstruation in girls. A adolescent girls are naïve about menstruation and they take time to adapt to these changes both socially and psychologically. This study was carried out to assess the psychosocial impact of menstrual problems among schoolgoing adolescent girls. Methods This study is a cross-sectional study carried out in 350 schoolgoing adolescent girls in the year 2012 in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu. Girls who attained menarche 1 year prior to the data collection were included in the study. Data regarding background characteristics and psychosocial impact of menstrual problems were collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 15 software. The χ2-test was carried out to assess the statistical significance at the 95% level of significance. Results The mean age of the participants was 14.7 years. In this study, 87.7% of the girls had at least one menstrual problem. Among these, 78.5% could not attend school during menstruation, 51.1% were unable to perform household/sports activities (p < 0.001). It was observed that dysmenorrhea and menorrhagia were at increased risk of absenting the girls from school (p < 0.05). Conclusion The key to a sound adolescent health programme is a holistic approach which also focuses on the psychological and social domain of health. This could be achieved by involving all the stakeholders like parents, teachers, etc. to work as a team. It is also essential to develop adolescent friendly health services at the grass root level.