Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2023; 13(11): 958-966
Published online Nov 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i11.958
Effectiveness of menstruation hygiene skills training for adolescents with autism
Meltem Kaydırak, Büşra Yılmaz, Merve Azak, Çiğdem Bilge
Meltem Kaydırak, Büşra Yılmaz, Department of Women Health and Gynecologic Nursing, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Istanbul 34381, Türkiye
Merve Azak, Department of Pediatric Nursing, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Istanbul 34381, Türkiye
Çiğdem Bilge, Department of Obstetrics and Women's Health Nursing, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Muğla 48000, Türkiye
Author contributions: Kaydırak M, Yılmaz B, Azak M, and Bilge Ç contributed to study design; Kaydırak M, Yılmaz B, Azak M, and Bilge Ç contributed to data collection; Yılmaz B contributed to data analysis; Kaydırak M contributed to study supervision; Kaydırak M, Yılmaz B, Azak M, and Bilge Ç contributed to manuscript writing; Kaydırak M, Yılmaz B, Azak M, and Bilge Ç contributed to critical revisions for important intellectual content; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by The Semahat Arsel Nursing Education, Practice and Research Center, Türkiye No. 2022.2.
Institutional review board statement: Approval was obtained from the Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Health Sciences Ethics Committee for the study (Protocol No. 200179/Decision No. 6). Permission was obtained from the special education centers where the research was conducted. The aim and method of the study were explained and informed to the individuals responsible for the adolescent’s care, parents, and special education center staff. The purpose of the study, how the study would be carried out, that they could quickly leave the study whenever they wanted, and that the information received would be kept confidential was explained to the individuals responsible for the adolescent’s care. The study was conducted in accordance with the Principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: Written and verbal consent was obtained.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Merve Azak, MSc, PhD, RN, BSN, Research Assistant, Department of Pediatric Nursing, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Abide-i Hurriyet St., Istanbul 34381, Türkiye. merve.azak@iuc.edu.tr
Received: June 7, 2023
Peer-review started: June 7, 2023
First decision: July 19, 2023
Revised: July 27, 2023
Accepted: August 7, 2023
Article in press: August 7, 2023
Published online: November 19, 2023
Processing time: 162 Days and 21.5 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may encounter many difficulties with their menstrual cycles. Potential challenges that adolescents with ASD may face include understanding physical changes, coping with symptoms, emotional sensitivity, communication, personal care, and hygiene. They may have difficulty dealing with newly emerging situations such as foul odor, blood flow situation/feeling, and using sanitary pads, especially during menstruation.

Research motivation

One of the important problems faced by adolescents with ASD during the menstrual period is to practice menstrual hygiene skills. This study was carried out in order to teach this skill to adolescents with ASD and to support their independence.

Research objectives

This study was planned to evaluate the effect of menstruation hygiene skill training given to adolescents with ASD on the ability to change and wear menstrual pads.

Research methods

This study was conducted in three special education centers in the provinces of Istanbul and Muğla between April 2022 and February 2023, using the “Single Group Pre-Test and Post-Test Model,” which is one of the semi-experimental study methods. Before the training, the Adolescent and Parent Information Form and the Adolescent-Specific Menstrual Hygiene Skill Registration Form were administered to the participants included in the study through the individual responsible. In the post-test, only the Menstrual Hygiene Skills Registration Form was used. The individuals responsible for the care of the adolescents completed the post-test at home during the adolescent’s first menstrual cycle after training.

Research results

The mean age of adolescents was 16.06 ± 0.88 years. The mean age of menarche in adolescents was 13.73 ± 1.09 years, the frequency of menstruation was every 38.60 ± 39.25 d, the mean duration of menstruation was 5.13 ± 0.99 d, and the menstrual cycle of 86.7% of the adolescents was regular. The mothers of 93.3% of the adolescents were responsible for their care, and 53.3% of the adults were high school graduates. The difference between the menstrual hygiene skill scores of adolescents diagnosed with ASD before and after training was statistically significant (P < 0.005).

Research conclusions

It was observed that the self-care skills, such as hand washing and perineal cleaning especially in changing hygienic pads, of adolescents diagnosed with ASD increased after the training.

Research perspectives

With the successful results of this study, the importance of dividing the menstruation hygiene skill training into more than one step in adolescents with ASD and conducting this training in small groups became evident. In addition, this study was one of the rare studies that increased the menstrual hygiene skills of adolescents with ASD by training groups of two participants with visual methods and demonstration methods.