Effectiveness of menstruation hygiene skills training for adolescents with autism

Table 1 Application steps of changing sanitary pads

No	Steps
1	She noticed that she had started bleeding
2	She informed me about it
3	She either took off her clothes on her own or I helped her
4	She either removed her underwear on her own or I assisted her
5	She washed her hands
6	She retrieved a fresh pair of underwear
7	She opened the bag and took out a sanitary pad
8	She placed the sanitary pad onto her underwear without touching it directly, either by herself or with my assistance
9	She put on her underwear, either independently or with my help
10	She put on her pants, either by herself or with my assistance
11	She washed her hands and dried them using a towel
12	She realized that she needed to change her pad when the menstrual pad was dirty
13	She successfully removed the soiled pad
14	She either independently wrapped the dirty pad in her bag or I assisted her in doing so
15	She disposed of the dirty pad in the trash
16	She used toilet paper to wipe her perineum from front to back and discarded the used toilet paper in the trash
17	She took the clean, sanitary pad out of its bag and positioned it in her underwear
18	She put on her underwear and pants, either on her own or with my assistance
19	She washed her hands

Table 2 Descriptive characteristics of the adolescents

Descriptive characteristics	mean ± SD	Min-max
Age in yr	16.06 ± 0.88	15-17
Parent’s age in yr	43.66 ± 5.56	36-52
Age of menarche	13.73 ± 1.09	11-15
Menstruation frequency in d	38.60 ± 39.25	21-180
Period of menstruation in d	5.13 ± 0.99	4-7
	n	%
Is the menstrual cycle regular?
Yes	13	86.7
No	2	13.3
Adult caregiver
Mother	14	93.3
Other	1	6.7
Adult education level
Literate	1	6.7
Primary education	6	40.0
High school	8	53.3

SD: Standard deviation.

Table 3 Distribution of adolescents’ menstrual hygiene skills before and after training

Application steps	Before training				After training
	Applied		Not applied		Applied		Not applied
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
She noticed that she had started bleeding	9	60.0	6	40.0	14	93.3	1	6.7
She informed me about it	12	80.0	3	20.0	15	100	-	-
She either took off her clothes on her own or I helped her	9	60.0	6	40.0	15	100	-	-
She either removed her underwear on her own or I assisted her	10	66.7	5	33.3	15	100	-	-
She washed her hands	11	73.3	4	26.7	15	100	-	-
She retrieved a fresh pair of underwear	10	66.7	5	33.3	15	100	-	-
She opened the bag and took out a sanitary pad	9	60.0	6	40.0	15	100	-	-
She placed the sanitary pad onto her underwear without touching it directly, either by herself or with my assistance	9	60.0	6	40.0	14	93.3	1	6.7
She put on her underwear, either independently or with my help	9	60.0	6	40.0	15	100	-	-
She put on her pants, either by herself or with my assistance	11	73.3	4	26.7	15	100	-	-
She washed her hands and dried them using a towel	11	73.3	4	26.7	15	100	-	-
She realized that she needed to change her pad	10	66.7	5	33.3	11	73.3	4	26.7
When the menstrual pad was dirty
She successfully removed the soiled pad	9	60.0	6	40.0	15	100	-	-
She either independently wrapped the dirty pad in her bag or I assisted her in doing so	10	66.7	5	33.3	15	100	-	-
She disposed of the dirty pad in the trash	10	66.7	5	33.3	15	100	-	-
She used toilet paper to wipe her perineum from front to back and discarded the used toilet paper in the trash	9	60.0	6	40.0	15	100	-	-
She took the clean sanitary pad out of its bag and positioned it in her underwear	9	60.0	6	40.0	15	100	-	-
She put on her underwear and pants, either on her own or with my assistance	13	86.7	2	13.3	15	100	-	-
She washed her hands	14	93.3	1	6.7	15	100	-	-

Table 4 Menstrual hygiene skills analysis and average scores of adolescents before and after training

Before training, mean ± SD (min-max)	After training, mean ± SD (min-max)	P (test value)
12.93 ± 5.52 (2-19)	18.60 ± 0.73 (17-19)	0.002 (-3.065)

SD: Standard deviation.