DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i02.013

Pages: 595-601

A community based cross-sectional study was conducted during April 08 to March 09 in total duration of 12 months, in Rural, Urban and Slum strata of UT Chandigarh to study various restrictions imposed during menstruation and to explore factors associated with imposed restrictions faced by girls during menstruation. 744 respondents were selected by using Stratified Multistage Random Sampling Design with probability proportional to size (PPS). Respondents were asked about restrictions imposed during menstrual cycle and whether they think those restrictions as right. They were also asked whether they actually follow those restrictions imposed or not. The most common restriction imposed was on taking bath (50.8%) during menstruation. Restriction on worship/religious activity was faced by 39.5% respondents. No reaction was reported by 156 (26.9%) respondents while 352 (60.7%) accepted imposed restrictions normally. Imposing of restrictions was found to be significantly associated with age (p< 0.01) and educational status (p< 0.001) of respondents. Early menarche upto13 years also resulted in more reactions (30.7%). However, several passive as well as active counter reactions to imposed restrictions were reported in the present study. These findings show that imposing unnecessarily the rigid and undesired restrictions on girls during menstruation cannot bring fruitful results and may result in poor reproductive health outcomes. Efforts should be made to reduce such restrictions, taboos, myths and various undesired practices for better reproductive health related outcomes.