Taboos and Myths Associated with Womens Health among Rural and Urban Adolescent Girls in Punjab

Abstract

For designing an effective health education programme for any community it is essential to honour the cultural milieu of the beneficiaries. Study was done to study the practices of myths concerning menstruation and knowledge of diet taboos practiced in society during pregnancy and lactation. Overall 5000 school / college going adolescent girls (2500 urban and 2500 rural) of Patiala Punjab aged 10-19 years were interviewed. First Patiala district was divided in four zones. A list of schools and colleges in this district was obtained beforehand. From each zone two schools were randomly chosen. In addition two colleges were randomly selected from the district. From each school and college 250 girls studying from 8th to 12th standards and BA/BSc 1st year were chosen. From each class one section was chosen at random and all students were included in the study. (excerpt)