Educating Mothers and Girls about Knowledge and Practices toward Puberty Hygiene in Tabriz, Iran: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background Puberty and changes resulting from it are one of the most important events of everybody’s life. Mothers play a central role in raising the level of knowledge, managing family health and improving hygienic behaviors of their daughters. Objectives The current study aimed to compare the effects of educating mothers and their daughters on the knowledge and practices toward puberty hygiene in adolescent girls in Tabriz, Iran, 2014. Patients and Methods This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 364 adolescent students of 12 randomly selected high schools who had experienced menstruation. The students were first matched by the practice scores they received in the pretest and then divided randomly and equally into three groups: educating the mothers, educating the girls, and the non-intervention group. The questionnaires regarding knowledge and practices in the pre- and post-intervention stages (with an interval of two months between them) were completed. The general linear model, in which the baseline values were controlled, was employed to compare the scores of the three groups after the intervention. Results There were no significant differences between the three groups concerning the scores received on knowledge and practice prior to the intervention (P > 0.05). After the intervention, by controlling the scores received before the intervention, the mean score on knowledge in the two groups of educating the mothers (adjusted difference: 0.7; confidence interval (CI) 95%: 0.0 - 1.3) and educating the girls (0.8; 0.2 - 1.5) were significantly higher compared to those of the control group. With respect to improvement in the scores received on practice, no significant differences were found between the three groups. Conclusions Results of the current study indicate that it is possible to use the method of educating the mothers and transferring knowledge from them to their daughters as a substitute for direct education of the girls in order to raise the level of their knowledge on puberty hygiene.