. Mitra Moodi; . Nosrat Zamanipour; . Golam‑Reza Sharifirad; . Hossein Shahnazi
Volume 3, Issue 10 , October 2013, , Pages 1-4
Abstract
Background: Puberty is one of the most critical periods in a female adolescents’ life. Thisintervening study aimed to evaluate the effect of educational program for puberty healthon ...
Read More
Background: Puberty is one of the most critical periods in a female adolescents’ life. Thisintervening study aimed to evaluate the effect of educational program for puberty healthon improving intermediate and high school female students’ knowledge in Birjand, Iran.Materials and Methods: In this quasi‑experimental study, 325 female intermediate and highschool students were selected through randomized cluster sampling during several stages.Then, researcher‑made questionnaire including 20 questions, each having one point regardingpuberty health, was distributed. After completion of the questionnaires were gathered. Followingthis, under a systemic educational plan all intermediate and high school selected students weregiven the same instruction by trained instructors. Instruction time for each meeting was estimated1.5 hours. One month after the educational program and handing out the pamphlets in schools,the previous questionnaires were again distributed among the students to fill out. At the end,302 students who had filled out the questionnaires before and after intervention were studied.Results: Out of 302 students, 151 were intermediate and 151 high school students. Knowledgelevel among intermediate students was 5.03 ± 3.7 before intervention and was 10.8 ± 4.8 afterintervention. Among high school students, the scores were 4.1±2.3 and 8.7±3.8, respectively. Therewas a significant difference between pre and post intervention stages in both groups (P < 0.001).Furthermore, mean knowledge grade in all the students increased from 4.6 ± 3.1 before interventionto 9.7 ± 4.4 after intervention (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Performing educational programs duringpuberty has a crucial role in young girls’ knowledge increase. Since young girls often do not sharetheir problems with their parents and their peers during the period, instructional classes in schoolsprovide a good opportunity for them to present their problems and finding solutions.
