Journal of Basic and Clinical Reproductive Sciences

Are menstrual knowledge outcome scores similar among rural and urban girls?

2017-09-13T11:30:52+00:00

Background: Adolescent girls constitute a vulnerable group particularly in India where menstruation is still regarded as something dirty and messy. The cultural and social influences appear to be hurdle for advancement of knowledge of the subject. This results in adverse health outcomes in these adolescent girls. Awareness about menstruation and hygienic practices followed during menstruation are of immense importance as it has a health impact in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infection.

Aim: a) To assess and compare the knowledge regarding menstruation in rural and urban adolescent girls. b) To associate the findings with the selected socio-demographic variables.

Subjects and methods: A community based, cross sectional study was undertaken among 715 adolescent schools going girls in the field practice area of the RHTC and UHTC of Department of Community Medicine, District Bareilly. A pre-designed, pretested structured questionnaire was used in the study regarding knowledge and perception of the school going girls regarding menstruation.

Results: Majority of the girls had first heard of menstruation and acquired knowledge related to it before attaining menarche (72.45%). The major source of information was from their mothers and sisters (60.6%). Maximum number of girls was not aware of the source of bleeding (53.7%). Statistically significant difference with knowledge scores was seen in girls of higher standards, maternal literacy and father’s occupation.

Conclusion: Several factors are known to influence menstrual behaviour, the most significant being maternal literacy and father’s occupation. Imparting knowledge about menstruation and safe practices during menstruation is necessary to mitigate the suffering of adolescent girls. Therefore promoting positive attitudes towards management of menstruation and related problems among the adolescent girls is the need of the hour.

Keywords: Menstruation, Knowledge, Perception

Choice of specialization among female clinical medical students of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria

2017-09-13T11:30:54+00:00

Background: The field of medicine is very wide; female medical students also have their choice of specialization which many develop in medical schools due to different factors.

Methodology: It was a cross sectional study that was conducted among female clinical medical students of Bayero University Kano. Ethical approval was obtained from the hospital Ethical Committee. Questionnaire was administered to all consenting female students. Data were analysed by SPSS Electronic Software Version 18 (SPSS Inc, IL, Chicago, USA). A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Eighty five female medical students participated in the study. Mean (SD) age was 23.09 ± 1.8 years. Seventy two (84.70%) chose clinical medicine to be their future career while 13 (15.30%) were undecided. Only 15 (22.70%) decided to specialize in their career of choice. Obstetrics and Gynaecology was the most interested speciality of choice (30.80%). Most students were interested in the reward in working in the speciality 54 (68.40%) followed by interest in the clinical work 52 (65.80%). Many of the respondents 41 (49.4%) considered their career development as a priority in future career plans in practice location, and educational environment for children 40 (51.90%). Only 15 (18.00%) were keenly motivated to work in rural areas regardless of the duration of time.

Conclusion: Female medical students preferred to be clinicians in their future career with obstetrics and gynaecology as the most interested speciality of choice. Their career development and educational environment for children were the priority in future career plans in practice location.

Keywords: Choice of specialization; Female medical students; Kano; Nigeria

Understanding of emergency contraception among nursing staff in a tertiary care hospital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

2017-09-13T11:30:56+00:00

Context: Emergency contraception (EC) offers women a last chance to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse. Nursing personnel are both service providers and health educators to the community and their understanding can influence the contraceptive behaviour.

Aim: To find out the understanding of emergency contraception among nursing personnel.

Settings and design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.

Material and methods: A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect the responses of nurses regarding their understanding of Emergency Contraception.

Statistical analysis used: Mean & Percentages.

Results: Eighty (80%) of the respondents had heard about EC. Majority (88.75%) responded in favour of Levonorgestrel. Most (76.25%) opined incorrectly that EC pills are abortifacient. All the participants showed positive attitude towards EC. However, only three participants came out to be EC users.

Conclusion: Nurses with a complete knowledge and positive attitude towards EC can act as effective counsellors to the public to create awareness, improve their understanding and change their attitude towards EC.

Keywords: Understanding; Nurses; Emergency contraception; Levonorgestrel

Impact of health education intervention on knowledge and utilization of postnatal care services among women in Edu Local Government of Kwara State, Nigeria

2017-09-13T11:30:58+00:00

Background: This study examined the impact of health education intervention (HEI) on the knowledge and utilization of postnatal care services among women in Edu, Nigeria.

Methods: A quasi-experimental research design using pre-test and post-test control group to examine impact of HEI among women. Researchers-developed questionnaire was used for data collection.

Intervention: One hundred and twenty women were exposed to ten weeks health education intervention; sixty (n=60) experimental group exposed to postnatal care services lectures and sixty (n=60) control group were exposed to HIV/AIDS prevention lectures. The results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to answer research question and test null hypothesis at 0.05 significant levels.

Results: The findings showed an improvement from pre intervention mean scores of 64.26 to post intervention scores of 98.15 for the experimental group against 68.88 post intervention mean score of control group. While, the pre intervention mean score of utilization was 56.67 compared with post intervention mean scores of 92.91 for the experimental group and 61.04 for the control group utilization This showed positive impact of health education intervention on knowledge and willingness of women of childbearing age to utilize postnatal care services in Edu LGA.

Conclusion: Study concluded that, health education intervention had positive impact on knowledge and willingness of WCA to utilize postnatal care, and the knowledge gained need to be sustained to improve WCA health seeking behaviour in the communities of Edu LGA.

Keywords: Edu local government area; Health education intervention; Knowledge and Utilization; Nigeria; Postnatal care services; Women of childbearing age

Cord blood angiogenic profile in normotensive pregnancies

2017-09-13T11:30:59+00:00

Human placenta undergoes both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis during fetal development. An imbalance in proangiogenic [placental growth factor (PlGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor] and antiangiogenic factors [soluble fms like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), soluble endoglin (sEng)] has been reported to have a role in pathophysiology of preeclampsia. Hence the present study was designed to analyze heme oxygenase-1 and endoglin levels in maternal and cord blood of normotensive women. The study comprised of twenty five normotensive pregnant women immediately after delivery Study samples were drawn (maternal venous blood and umbilical cord blood) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and endoglin levels were analyzed by competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Heme oxygenase-1 levels were elevated in maternal blood as compared to cord blood of normotensive pregnant women. Also, serum blood endoglin levels were higher in maternal blood compared to cord blood of normotensive pregnant women. These findings indicate that there is angiogenic balance during normotensive pregnancy and dysbalance might occur during pathological pregnancy. These markers of angiogenic balance may serve as diagnostic marker and may help in explaining future risk of cardiovascular disease in these women.

Keywords: Vasculogenesis; Proangiogenic and antiangiogenic factors; Pregnancy

Hypertension in pregnancy among rural women in Katsina State, Nigeria

2017-09-13T11:31:01+00:00

Hypertension in pregnancy (HIP) is defined as a systolic blood pressure ≥140 or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg or both. It could be described as chronic, gestational, preeclampsia or eclampsia depending on the gestational period, tendency for postpartum resolution, presence of proteinuria or convulsion. Hypertension in pregnancy affects about 5-22% of pregnancies especially in developing countries. Though preeclampsia and eclampsia seems to create more concern than others, evidence abound that any form of hypertension in pregnancy places women at increased risk of adverse outcomes.

Keywords: Hypertension, Pregnancy, Women, Eclampsia, Nigeria

Episiotomy scar endometriosis diagnosed on cytology - a case report

2017-09-13T11:31:02+00:00

Endometriosis, the presence of functioning endometrial tissue outside the uterus, is a common gynaecological condition. Perineal endometriosis is a rare disease characterized by the presence of ectopic endometrial stroma and glands in the perineum. Most commonly observed in the episiotomy scar after normal vaginal deliveries, perineal endometriosis is not often considered in the differential diagnosis of perineal masses. This could lead to unnecessary investigations and inadequate patient treatments. Scar endometriosis is an infrequent type of extrapelvic endometriosis. Scar endometriosis can be a diagnostic challenge in Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) smears that at times, is the first diagnostic modality in some cases. The challenge is amplified when the clinical details are limited and cytopathological features reveal nuclear atypia.

Keywords: Scar endometriosis, Perineal endometriosis, Differential diagnosis, Anisonucleosis