TEACHING MENSTRUAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE TO YOUNG WOMEN IN EASTERN UGANDA WITH REUSABLE MENSTRUAL PADS

In order to identify the impact of teaching menstrual health and hygiene with reusable menstrual pads on knowledge retention and school attendance, qualitative and quantitative data was collected from three rural schools in three districts of eastern Uganda: Amuria, Bukedea, and Ngora. Research techniques employed were preliminary and post surveys of 85 young women; average age 16.9 years. Findings include positive and negative results. Participants’ feelings of normalcy and comfort increased and participants had improved understanding of sexual climax and appropriate menstrual management strategies. There was no statistically significant impact of teaching on topics of sexual intercourse or pregnancy. The impact of reusable menstrual pad sanitary technology on school attendance was negative as more young women reported missing up to a full day of school during their menstrual period (χ2 (3, 73) = 7.81, p = 0.05). Study limitations are discussed and future work is suggested.

BREAKING CODES: MAKING THEORIES ON MENSTRUATION ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THIRD-WAVE FEMINISM

Men and women respond to situations according to their community’s social codes. With menstruation, people adhere to “menstrual codes”. Within academic communities, people adhere to “academic codes”. This report paper investigates performances of academic codes and menstrual codes. Implications of gender identity and race are missing and/or minimal in past feminist work regarding menstruation. This paper includes considerations for gender identity and race. Within the examination of academic codes, this paper discusses the inhibitive process of idea creation within the academic sphere, and the limitations to the predominant ways of knowledge sharing within, and outside of, the academic community. The digital project (www.hu.mtu.edu/~creynolds) is one example of how academic and menstrual codes can be broken. The report and project provide a broadly accessible deconstruction of menstrual advertising and academic theories while fostering conversations on menstruation through the sharing of knowledge with others, regardless of gender, race, or academic standing.

Sleep Deprivation and Pain Intensity

Little or poor quality sleep is often reported in patients suffering from acute or chronic pain. Conversely, sleep loss has been known to elevate pain perception; thus a potential bi-direction relationship exists between sleep deprivation and pain. The effect of sleep deprivation on the thermal pain intensity has yet to be determined, furthermore, sex differences in pain have not been examined following sleep deprivation. There is also a higher prevalence of insomnia in women, and reports indicate that sleep quality is diminished and pain sensitivity may be greater during high hormone phases of the menstrual cycle. In Study 1 we examined the effects of 24-hour total sleep deprivation (TSD) on pain intensity during a 2-minute cold pressor test (CPT). We hypothesized that TSD would augment thermal pain intensity during CPT and women would demonstrate an elevated response compare to men. In Study 2 we investigated the effects of menstrual phase on pain intensity during CPT following TSD. We hypothesized that pain intensity would be augmented during the mid-luteal (ML) phase of the menstrual cycle. In Study 1, pain intensity was recorded during CPT in 14 men and 13 women after normal sleep (NS) and TSD. Pain intensity responses during CPT were elevated in both conditions; however, pain intensity was augmented (~ 1.2 a.u.) following TSD. When analyzed for sex differences, pain intensity was not different between men and women in either condition. In Study 2, pain intensity was recorded during CPT in 10 female subjects during the early follicular (EF) and ML phases of the menstrual cycle after TSD. Estradiol and progesterone levels were elevated during the ML phase, however, pain intensity was not different between the two phases. We conclude that TSD significantly augments pain intensity during CPT, but this response is not sex dependent. We further demonstrate that the collective effect of TSD and elevated gonadal hormone concentrations do not result in a differential pain response during the EF and ML phases of the menstrual cycle. Collectively, sleep loss augments pain intensity ratings in men and women and may contribute to sleep loss in painful conditions.