ASSESSMENT OF VAGINAL SHOWER CONDITIONS OF 15-49 YEAR OLD MARRIED WOMEN
Project no. 905 · Status: Kapanmış · 2016
Summary
This is a descriptive cross-sectional study designed to assess the vaginal shower practices of 15-49 year-old women of childbearing age. During the research, married women in the fertile ages of 15-49 years, who applied to İzmir No 11 Naldöken Family Health Center, formed the universe (N: 142), and volunteer women participated in the survey (n:119). Socio-demographic question form and "Genital Hygiene Behavior Inventory" (GHBI) were used as data collection tools. The average age of the women participating in the survey was 29.21±7.1 (min:19, maks:46), the first gestational age average was 21.06±3.38 (min:14, maks:30) and the mean number of pregnancies was 2.77±1.69 (min:0, maks:9). 32.5% of the women participating in the study had a vaginal shower and 47.9% had pain and burning after sexual intercourse within the last one year. 49.6% of the women stated that they had bad smelling vaginal discharge in the last year. The mean of women’s GHBI score was 78.36±9.3 (min:58, max:108), which indicates that genital hygiene behaviors are at a higher level than the total score. As a result of this study, it was determined that one of every three females participating in the research performed vaginal shower application. The solution of the problem of vaginal shower application may be possible by increasing the awareness of women and by ensuring their awareness. The role of midwifes, whose primary focus is women's health and primary care, is important in this process. For this reason, the importance of such scientific research in terms of revealing the causes of misapplication by women and changing the beliefs and practices of women towards vaginal showers is a big issue. Key Words: Vaginal douche; Women's health; Genital hygiene