Table 4.
Relationships between awareness of menstruation at menarche and menstrual knowledge, social support, and confidence to manage menstruation.
| Awareness at menarche | Myanmar (n = 421) | Uganda, Soroti (n = 537) | Bangladesh (n = 1,359) | Uganda, Mukono (n = 525) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes % (n) | No % (n) | OR/b (95%CI) | Yes % (n) | No % (n) | OR (95%CI) | Yes % (n) | No % (n) | OR/b (95%CI) | Yes % (n) | No % (n) | aORa (95%CI) | |
| Menstrual knowledge | ||||||||||||
| Knowledge test score (M, SD) | 58.09 (16.82) | 48.58 (18.89) | 9.51 (3.99–15.04) | 67.52 (23.15) | 62.74 (23.44) | 4.78 (1.70–7.87) | ||||||
| Social support | ||||||||||||
| Confident to talk to family member about menstruation | 92.4 (327) | 83.6 (56) | 2.38 (0.94–6.02) | 67.7 (159) | 61.9 (182) | 1.29 (0.98–1.69) | 72.3 (188) | 63.3 (167) | 1.36 (0.98–1.88) | |||
| Confident to talk to friends about menstruation (someone at work about menstruation) | 79.4 (281) | 55.2 (37) | 3.12 (1.25–7.78) | 60.4 (145) | 55.1 (162) | 1.24 (0.92–1.69) | 53.5 (139) | 47.0 (124) | 1.15 (0.89–1.40) | |||
| Confident to talk to female teacher about menstruation | 42.9 (152) | 29.9 (20) | 1.76 (0.93–3.35) | |||||||||
| Confident to ask a teacher for a pad | 36.7 (130) | 20.9 (14) | 2.20 (1.31–3.68) | |||||||||
| Feel comfortable to talk about menstruation in general | 35.6 (165) | 22.8 (203) | 1.87 (1.38–2.53) | |||||||||
| Confidence to manage menstruation | ||||||||||||
| Confident to manage menstruation at school/work | 78.3 (277) | 67.2 (45) | 1.76 (1.08–2.87) | 47.9 (115) | 54.4 (161) | 0.77 (0.51–1.16) | 52.8 (247) | 42.3 (377) | 1.52 (1.18–1.96) | 40.0 (104) | 46.2 (122) | 0.94 (0.71–1.25) |
| Very confident to manage menstruation at home | 33.8 (81) | 38.2 (113) | 0.83 (0.52–1.32) | 59.2 (277) | 56.0 (499) | 1.14 (0.84–1.55) | 36.5 (95) | 42.1 (111) | 0.78 (0.60–1.03) | |||
a
With adjustment for poverty index and education level.