Abstract:
Background: School absenteeism is a big issue among school girls related to menstruation. The
onset of menstruation presents multiple challenges to female students. Poor menstrual hygiene
management has been shown to result in a sense of shame, anxiety, and embarrassment that
contributes to absenteeism and poor performance at school, lack of conducive environment at
school, fear of blood leakage, lack of sanitary pad contribute for school abscentism.
Objective: To assess magnitude of school absenteeism during menstruation and associated
factors among high school female student in Bacho district, 2024.
Method: A mixed method research of institutional based cross-sectional study and facility based
observational by using check list were conducted in three governmental high schools, total
sample size 419 randomly selected female high school students. Data were collected from April
15 to May 20, 2024, in Bacho district South West Shoa Ethiopia. Data collection procedure using
structured self-administered questionnaire and school facility based qualitative observation. Data
entered by Epi-data and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. The variables that have a p
value ≤ 0.25 in bivariable analysis were entered to a multivariable logistic regression model. The
Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with a 95 % Confidence Interval (CI) was computed to assess the
strength of association, and variables with a P-value of <0.05 were considered statistically
significant.
Results: Out of 419 study participants 416 were participated in this study, with a response rate of
99.3%.The overall magnitude of school absenteeism was 303(72.8%),).OR =1.94, 95% CI, (1.15
3.23) Factors statically significantly associated with school absenteeism were fear of blood
leakage (AOR = 3.6; 95% CI:( 1.44-9.01), lack of sanitary pad AOR = 5.; 95% CI: (2.50-12.70),
anxiety and discomfort (AOR= 5.6; 95% CI: 2.60-12.60)
Conclusion and Recommendation: The magnitude of school absenteeism associated with
menstruation among female students is three in four students, to increase magnitude of problem
education sector avail accesses of sanitary pads and counseling service on anxiety and discomfort.
