Knowledge regarding leucorrhoea and the hygienic practices among women

The present study was aimed to assess the knowledge regarding leucorrhoea and the hygienic practices among women in a selected hospital, Kottayam. The objectives of the study was to assess the knowledge of women regarding leucorrhoea, assess the hygienic practices of women, identify the correlation between knowledge about leucorrhoea and the hygienic practices of women and to find the association between knowledge about leucorrhoea and selected socio-demographic variables. The study made use of quantitative approach with descriptive survey design to assess the knowledge regarding leucorrhoea and hygienic practices among women. The study was conducted among 100 women who were in the reproductive age group of 18-49 years. Convenience sampling technique was used to select samples for the study. The tools used were structured questionnaire for socio demographic and knowledge assessment. Self-reported practice checklist was used to assess the hygienic practices among women. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the present study showed that the more than half of samples (61%) had average knowledge and 39% had good knowledge regarding leucorrhoea. Among the samples, 55% had good hygienic practices whereas 45% had satisfactory hygienic practices. There is a highly positive correlation (r =0.67, p=0.000) between knowledge and the hygienic practices. The level of knowledge was significantly associated with age (χ2=9.33,p<0.05), education (χ2=19.96, p<0.05),religion (χ2=7.52, p<0.05),marital status (χ2=4.38,p<0.05),previous knowledge (χ2=9.67, p<0.05) and previous history (χ2=6.21,p<0.05). Hence the study concluded that most of the women had average knowledge and followed satisfactory hygienic practices and socio-demographic variables have an influence on knowledge regarding leucorrhoea.