Fabrikada Çalışan Kadınların Genital Hijyen Davranışları ve İlişkili Faktörlerin Belirlenmesi

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the genital hygiene behaviors of women working in a factory and the related factors. This descriptive research was conducted between September 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, at a factory located within the boundaries of Kütahya province. The sample of the research consisted of 181 female blue-collar workers. As data collection instruments, a personal information form created by the researchers to collect introductory information, menstrual hygiene behaviors, and working conditions in the factory, and the Genital Hygiene Behavior Inventory (GHDE) developed to assess the genital hygiene behaviors of women in reproductive age were used. Descriptive analysis was used for number and percentage in the analysis of the data, and independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA test were used for comparative analysis. In the study, the mean age of the women was 35.25±7.6, 52.5% of the women were high school graduates, and 74.6% had children. Most of the women stated that they changed their menstrual products three times a day or less on the days they worked in the factory and had a habit of vaginal douching. The mean GHDE score of women working in the factory in the study was 50.65±0.78, indicating that their genital hygiene behaviors were not at the desired level. A statistically significant difference was found between women's status of having children, working shift hours, income status, financial difficulties in purchasing menstrual products, factory hygiene conditions, genital hygiene habits and applying to a health institution in case of infection in the genital area and GHDE (p<0 .05). It is recommended that women who working in the factory, raise women's awareness of genital health, and organize health trainings on genital hygiene to ensure that they adopt the correct genital hygiene behaviors.