Assessment of an educational intervention effectiveness on promoting menstrual knowledge and related health behaviors in female high school students in Khamir city in 2015-2016

Background and Aims: Puberty is a period of psychological, physical, mental, emotional and social growth in which the development of personality takes place. This study was aimed to determine the effect of an educational intervention on promoting the Knowledge and Menstrual Health Behaviors in female high school students at their first grade in Khamir city in 2015-2016.Materials and Methods: The present quasi-experimental study, along with a control group, was conducted in female high school students in Khamir city. Totally, 120 eligible teen girls were involved in our study. The questionnaire consisted of three part: demographic information, awareness and health behaviors concerning puberty. The questionnaire was completed before and two months after the intervention. Thecontents of training was presented through lecture, group discussion with teaching aids such as booklets.Paired t-test and independent t-test were used for data analysis by SPSS22 Software. Ethical issues such as confidentiality of studied community were all considered.Results: It was found that the mean of Knowledge score increased from 11.81±2.60 to 17.48±2.18 after the educational intervention. Similarly, the mean of behavior score increased from 19.93±2.68 to 25.26±3.53 in the intervention group as compared with the control. Both findings were statistically significant (P<0/001).Conclusion: Health education played a statistically significant role in promoting the awareness and improving the behavior of students about their adolescent health. Thus, pubertal health education during menstruation should be emphasized to reform the health behaviors of girls during adolescence.Keywords: Health education, Knowledge, Behavior, Menstrual health, Female students, Khamir cit