STUDI FENOMENOLOGI: PERUBAHAN SEBELUM DAN SETELAH MENARCHE YANG DIALAMI OLEH ANAK PEREMPUAN USIA SEKOLAH DI KOTA PONTIANAK [A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY: CHANGE AFTER MENARCHE EXPERIENCED BY SCHOOL-AGE GIRLS IN PONTIANAK CITY]

Puberty in girls is indicated by menarche as one of the primary sex characteristics. Nowadays, the age of menarche is decreasing which then brings serious impacts in most developing countries, such as the unpreparedness of children to face menarche, early marriage, and the incidence of premarital sex.. This study aims to explore the changes experienced by adolescent girls of school age before and after menarche. This research used a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach. There were six participants involved in this study that were taken using the purposive sampling technique and snowball sampling. Data were collected directly using in-depth interviews for 30 minutes on April 2021. There were four themes identified from the thematic analysis, those were, (1) Physical Changes, Emotional Changes, Positive Changes, and Negative Changes. Various changes were experienced by school-age girls at the time of menarche. Children experience faster growth in various body systems. In addition to physical growth, children's emotions also become unstable when experiencing menarche. Children also experience positive and negative attitude changes at the time of menarche. Good knowledge, availability of sources of information, and support from the closest people are the main factors that affect a child's readiness to undergo a change in facing menarche.