School Absenteeism During Menstruation And Its Associated Factors Among Female Students At High School In Bacho District, Southwest Shoa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

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.