Identification of midwifery students’ menstrual attitudes

Problem statement: This study is designed based on the idea that attitudes towards menstruation can be multi-directional; they can be positive as much as negative and the physiological and emotional symptom expectations during premenstrual or menstrual period can influence the attitudes.Objective: The descriptive study aims to identify midwifery students’ menstrual attitudes.Material and Methods: Research population consists of 100 students who are in their 1st and 2nd year in Cukurova University Health Sciences Faculty Midwifery Department during 2014-2015 education year and the sample consists of 92 students. Permission of the institution, ethics committee approval and informed verbal consent of the participants were obtained. A questionnaire that includes sociodemographic information and menstrual features, and Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire. The data was analyzed with IBM 20.0 package program.Findings: The average age of the participants is 19.75±1.86 and average menarche age is 13.77±1.25. It is indicated that 87.0% of the participants have knowledge regarding menstruation, yet 48.9 had worries during their first menstruation, 77.2% have regular menstruations, 71.7% experience premenstrual problems and 89.1% experience dysmenorrhea. Total average score of the participants on Menstrual Attitude Scale is 66,93±8,12; the average scores for subscales are (10,93±2,74) menstruation as an annoying phenomenon, (8,10±2,02) as a natural phenomenon, (11,24±2,12) sensing/recognizing menstruation in advance and (11,81±1,88) denial of menstrual effects.Conclusion: Based on high average scores for Menstrual Attitude Scale, it is found that the students have positive attitudes towards menstruation. It can also be claimed that since the participants perceive menstruation as a natural phenomenon, they can easily cope with related problems