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 S19

The Effectiveness of Menstrual Education Module for Children and Adolescent Refugees:   
A Pilot Study   
  
Nur Aizati Athirah Daud1, Muhammad Aqif Badrul Hisham2, Ahmad Rashidi Mohamed Tahir2, Sh 
Fatimah AlZahrah Syed Hussein Al-Attas3   
  
Objectives: Females across low- to middle-income countries have limited knowledge and 
understanding about menstruation prior to reaching menarche. One of the marginalised populations 
prone to this challenge is the female refugees in Malaysia. The objective of this pilot study is to evaluate 
the effectiveness of a menstrual health module developed for children and adolescent refugees.  
Methods: This is a pilot intervention study among children and adolescents aged 9 to 17 years old 
attending a school for refugees and stateless children located in Selayang, Selangor. A menstrual health 
module was developed containing basic knowledge on reproductive organs, changes during 
menstruation, menstruation cycle, and menstrual hygiene management. Activities were carried out 
during this program to engage the participants. A set of 20 quiz questions were given, pre- and post-
intervention. Scores from the quiz were compared using paired T-test to evaluate the effectiveness of 
the module.  
Results: A total of 11 children participated in the program (mean age: 12.8 + 1.3 years). All of the 
participants are Muslims and the majority of them are Myanmar refugees (n=10, 90.9%). The majority 
stayed with their parents (n=9, 81.8%). About half of the participants have fathers who are without any 
education (n=6, 54.5%), while most of the fathers were working full time (n=9, 81.8%). The majority 
of the participants had a monthly household income of less than RM2500 (n=10, 90.9%). The post-
intervention mean score for the quiz questions was significantly higher than the pre-intervention mean 
score (15.9 + 2.3 and 6.3 + 4.9 for post- and pre-intervention, respectively) (p<0.001).  
Conclusion: The menstrual education module was shown to be effective in increasing the knowledge 
of menstruation and menstrual hygiene among children and adolescent refugees. Rooms for 
improvements were identified for further revision of the menstrual health module.   
  
Keywords: menstruation, period, refugees, menstrual hygiene education  
  

1. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Penang, 
Malaysia   
2. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Cyberjaya, 63000 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia  
3. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed 
Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, 53100 Kuala 
Lumpur, Malaysia  
 

  

 

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Correspondence to:  Nur Aizati Athirah Daud, Lecturer, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Penang, Malaysia, aizati@usm.my     

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31344/ijhhs.v7i70.521