TY - JOUR
T1 - How do women and girls experience menstrual health interventions in low- and middle-income countries? Insights from a systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis
AU - Shannon, Alexandra K.
AU - Melendez-Torres, G. J.
AU - Hennegan, Julie
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; The Osprey Foundation of Maryland; and The Case for Her. The protocol for this review was pre-registered on the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews: PROSPERO CRD42018089581.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Increasing recognition of the difficulties women and adolescent girls face during menstruation has the prompted rapid implementation of menstrual health programmes and policies. Yet, there remains limited understanding of the influence of these interventions on individuals’ menstrual experiences. We systematically reviewed and synthesised qualitative studies of participant experiences of menstrual health interventions. Included studies were undertaken in 6 countries (India, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa) and involved over 900 participants. Interventions focused on menstrual product or education provision. Only 6 of the 12 included studies were rated as high or medium trustworthiness. Exposure to new menstrual products led to changes in women’s and girls’ expectations of what a menstrual material should offer, with recipients highly valuing reduced fears of leakage and improved freedom of movement. After learning how to use new products or receiving educational materials, women and girls reported feeling more empowered and aware of the physiological process of menstruation, and in some cases wanted to share this knowledge with others in their communities. For each intervention, the process of introduction, trial and error, and acceptance of the new technologies or information was influenced by the sociocultural environment including parents, peers and teachers.
AB - Increasing recognition of the difficulties women and adolescent girls face during menstruation has the prompted rapid implementation of menstrual health programmes and policies. Yet, there remains limited understanding of the influence of these interventions on individuals’ menstrual experiences. We systematically reviewed and synthesised qualitative studies of participant experiences of menstrual health interventions. Included studies were undertaken in 6 countries (India, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa) and involved over 900 participants. Interventions focused on menstrual product or education provision. Only 6 of the 12 included studies were rated as high or medium trustworthiness. Exposure to new menstrual products led to changes in women’s and girls’ expectations of what a menstrual material should offer, with recipients highly valuing reduced fears of leakage and improved freedom of movement. After learning how to use new products or receiving educational materials, women and girls reported feeling more empowered and aware of the physiological process of menstruation, and in some cases wanted to share this knowledge with others in their communities. For each intervention, the process of introduction, trial and error, and acceptance of the new technologies or information was influenced by the sociocultural environment including parents, peers and teachers.
KW - Menstrual hygiene
KW - menstrual health
KW - qualitative metasynthesis
KW - systematic review
KW - women and girls
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080993831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85080993831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2020.1718758
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2020.1718758
M3 - Article
C2 - 32116149
AN - SCOPUS:85080993831
VL - 23
SP - 624
EP - 643
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
SN - 1369-1058
IS - 5
ER -