Menstrual health education intervention for girls in elementary school in Belgrade (Serbia)

Background

Schools in Serbia do not provide comprehensive menstrual health education. The study purpose was to evaluate the knowledge level of fifth grade girls about menstrual health before and after education intervention.

Methods

Three public primary schools in Belgrade (Serbia) were invited to participate in the education intervention in November and December 2024. It was intended for girls in the fifth grade of primary school i.e. the average age when girls have their first period. The education intervention took around 45-50 minutes. It consisted of a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation about puberty, anatomy and biology of the female reproductive tract, characteristics of menstruation, activities and behaviours associated with menstruation and types of menstrual products and discussion with questions and answers. The girls filled in the same anonymous questionnaire before and after workshop (10 items, min-max score 0-10).

Results

A total of 125 girls participated in the intervention. Not having sufficient knowledge of menstrual health was reported by 40.8% of the girls (51/125). The median knowledge score before the workshop was 5 out of 10. After the education intervention, the median knowledge score significantly increased to 8 out of 10 (p < 0.001). The largest majority of girls knew how to discard the used menstrual pads (87.2%) and that during periods only intense physical activities should be reduced (80.8%). The least proportion of girls knew that is was acceptable to swim in the sea while on period (5.6%). The main source of information about menstruation was family (84.8%) and doctors (34.4%).

Conclusions

Knowledge level significantly increased after the workshop.

Key messages

• Menstrual education intervention is effective among fifth grade girls.

• Menstrual health education should be widely promoted and included in the biology core school curriculum.