Health-Related Counseling Needs in Adolescent Girls: A Qualitative Study

Puberty is one of the most critical periods in human beings’ development, which is accompanied by psychological and social changes. These changes create new needs and meeting them enables adolescents to adapt better and faster. The aim of this study was to identify the health-related counseling needs of adolescent girls to assist them in this period of development. Forty teenage (13 - 19-year-old) girls, who had at least experienced 3 menstrual cycles, participated in this qualitative study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. The content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Adolescent girls’ counseling needs were categorized into 33 codes, 10 groups and 3 main clusters: physical, psychological, and social. The most important physical counseling needs were issues related to menstruation, hygiene, coping with dysmenorrhea, and issues related to menstrual irregularities and genital infections. With respect to the psychological counseling needs, withdrawal, sensitivity toward criticism, restlessness, instability, irritability, and mood swings were among the important issues mentioned by the participants. Regarding the social counseling needs, most girls stated that they liked to socialize with their peers and dress and act like their friends. Adolescents girls need a comprehensive counseling program to improve their health status.