The effect of planned genital hygiene training for female students living in high school dormitory on behavior

One of the most common ailments in women is genital infections. Female students who stay in the dormitories throughout their education are especially at risk of genital infections, as they have difficulties in maintaining their genital hygiene. Therefore, the education and behavior change to be done during this period will be extremely effective in protecting the general health and genital health. The research was conducted as a quasi-experimental study in order to examine the effect of planned genital hygiene education given to female students living in high school dormitory on their behaviors. 144 female students registered in this dormitory constituted the universe of the research conducted between 15 October 2019 and 15 January 2020 in Fatih Social Sciences High School Student Hostel located in the city center of Şırnak(72 experimental, 72 control group). The students of the experimental group, which were divided into groups of 18, were trained by the researcher in two sessions of 30 minutes (60 minutes in total), theoretical and practical, on genital hygiene. The research data were collected by applying a questionnaire form and the "Genital hygiene behaviors scale" developed in accordance with the literature. Genital hygiene behaviors scale was applied again 3 months after the training. The data obtained were evaluated using appropriate statistical methods. The total score of the cases from the Genital Hygiene Behavior Scale before the training was 87.54 ± 10.24 in the group that was trained, and 86.28 ± 11.79 in the control group. The score of the cases after the training was 98.14 ± 9.62 in the group that was trained, and 91.22 ± 10.46 in the control group. The scores of the subjects in the educated group after training were found to be statistically significantly higher than the control group subjects (p = 0.001; p <0.01). As a result; this study was conducted only at the level of determining knowledge and attitude, the permanent behavior change it created was limited to the statements of the students and could not be determined at a sufficient level. However, positive changes in many hygiene behaviors were detected after the training, and it was observed that his education was effective on students. Keywords: Hygiene, Genital Hygiene, Menstruation, Education, Female Student