Genital Hygiene Behaviors Among Married Women and the Outcomes of Counseling Practices

Yıl 2019, Cilt: 21 Sayı: 1-2, 12 - 22, 28.01.2022

Özlem Sinan Esengül Çamözü Betül Tosun

Öz

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the genital hygiene behaviors of married women and the
counseling provided based on the genital infection data that was obtained.
Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 146 women of age 18-49 years. The study was conducted
in a training and research hospital located in Ankara. Data were collected using a data collection form including
questions about socio-demographic characteristics, descriptive characteristics of participants regarding genital
hygiene of women (bathing, pad use, vaginal douching) and the Genital Hygiene Behaviors Inventory (GHBI). The
GHBI scores were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test (age, bathing, cleaning of genital region, using
deodorant for genital region, vaginal douche, genital infection history) and the Kruskal-Wallis test (education
status, department where employed, type of underwear, frequency of sexual intercourse).
Results: The mean age of the women was 39.0 ± 7.70 years. It was determined that 57.5% of women had a
vaginal douching and only 33.6% of women applied to the doctor for complaints of genital infection. The women’
mean score on the GHBI was 84.95 ± 9.20. Women at the group of 41 years old and older, who were not having bath
every day and who were not performing the genital region cleaning properly were found to have lower GHBI
scores (p <0.05). Participants older than 41 years, who tended not to have frequent baths and did not clean the
genital region properly, had lower mean GHBI scores (p <0.05).
Conclusions: Despite the high mean Genital Hygiene Behaviors Inventory score, genital hygiene behaviors of
women were not at a desired level in our study.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Genital, hygiene, women, infection, nursing.

Kaynakça

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