| dc.description.abstract | Menstrual irregularities are important in terms of female reproductive health. However, it is
poorly addressed in developing countries like Sri Lanka especially in school level and above. The
present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess knowledge, practices, and selfreported
symptoms of menstrual irregularities among the female university students (n=280) in
Sri Lanka. Data collection was performed during January 2021 to December 2021. The analysis
revealed that the overall knowledge regarding menstrual irregularities among female university
students was not satisfactory (less than 50%) and only 33.5% (n=73) of students were with
satisfactory knowledge level. Overall practices regarding menstrual irregularities were also not
satisfactory with only 37.6% (n=82) reporting with good practices level. The results also revealed
that there is no correlation between knowledge on menstrual irregularities and attitudes towards
menstrual irregularities. The knowledge on menstrual irregularities had a significant association
with faculty of study, type of university and A/L stream (p<0.05). Socio-demographic factors such
as age, religion and residence were not statistically significant. The practices on menstrual
irregularities had a significant association with age and type of university (p<0.05). Prevalence of
menorrhagia and amenorrhea are increasing but students were not aware of these menstrual
irregularities although the signs and symptoms were present in many of them. Since more than
half of the study population was not having good knowledge and attitudes towards menstrual
irregularities, the present study strongly suggests the requirement of health education and health
promotion programmes to improve the knowledge and attitudes. | en_US |
