Effect of Health Educational Program on Knowledge and Self-care Practices about Menarche among Preparatory School Girls in Alexandria Governorate

: Background: Menarche and menstruation are taboo topics that many groups, especially adolescent girls, find unsettling. The health educational program was created to help female adolescents get ready for menarche. The study aims were to identify the effect of health educational program on knowledge and self-care practices about menarche among preparatory school girls in Alexandria Governorate. Subjects and Methods: Design: A quasi-experimental study design was used. Setting: A multistage random sampling technique was used. Sample: Students in the selected classes (around 50 preparatory girls from each school) were divided in the sample of 100 female students (study group) and 100 female students (control group). Tools of data collection: Three tools were used for data collection. Tool (I): Preparatory school girl's basic data structured interview schedule. Tool II: Preparatory school girls' puberty related knowledge structured interview schedule. Tool III: Preparatory schoolgirl’s self-care practices regarding puberty and menarche structured schedule. Result: Significant correlations were found between the general self-care practices of students and their knowledge about menses (P=0.001). Significant relationships were found between the number of siblings, the mother’s age, the mother’s education level, and the student’s knowledge (P=0.001). Conclusion: According to the findings of the current study, it can be concluded that menarche education program has significantly impact on improvement of preparatory school student's knowledge and their self-care practices. Recommendation: The application of programs should help to the development of in-service training programs for healthcare providers who take care of adolescent girls about issues related to menstruation and reproductive health.