Exploring the Impacts of Menstrual-Pelvic Pain on School Activity in Rural Secondary School Girls

Aims: Pelvic pain (PP) during menstruation (Dysmenorrhea) is one of the common complaints of women. menstruation has a great negative impact on the quality of life of women both psychologically, behavioural and social well-being. This study is to determine the prevalence of PP during menstruation among secondary school girls.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study design conducted among female students at some selected high schools in Anambra state, South-eastern Nigeria in February 2023. A total of 392 study participants were recruited using a convenience sampling technique. A pretested self-administered structured questionnaire was employed. Microsoft excel and SPSS version 26 were used for data entry and analysis respectively.

Results: 392 female adolescent high school students aged between 8-19 years old with a mean age at menarche 12.85±1.47 years. 58.9% reported having their menstrual bleeding lasting for 4 days. The prevalence of PP during menstruation was 86.31% with 29.90% with a numerical pain rating of 10. 39.20% reported taking painkillers gotten over the counter, 71.43% reported the pain affecting their activities in school, majority 32.7% don’t socialize with their classmate and 32.0% do not concentrate in classes. While 29.4% do not participate in school outdoor sports activities, 20.3% don’t participate in other school social activities. Statistically significant associations existed between PP during menses and age, age at menarche, bleeding length and bleeding intensity (p<0.05). The school participation of Participants with severe PP during menses were significantly affected (p=0.0001).

Conclusion: PP during menstruation was highly prevalent in this study, and highly affected the students’ participation in school activities. The implication of this study highlights the importance of raising awareness, improving access to healthcare services, integrating menstrual health education into the curriculum, and adopting a multidisciplinary approach to support affected adolescents.