Perception and Acceptability Regarding the Use of Menstrual Cups as An Alternative to Sanitary Napkins Among Women of Reproductive Age.

Introduction: Menstruation is a physiological phenomenon experienced by every woman in her reproductive life.Women face tremendous cultural, religious and traditional beliefs that lead to restrictions that are incurred during their menses.Menstrual hygiene management is defined as using materials to absorb or collect menstrual blood that can be changed in privacy and having access to safe and convenient facilities to dispose off used menstrual management materials.Menstrual health also expands this concept by addressing the broader effects of psychological, socio-political and environmental factors associated with menstruation on mental, physical and emotional well-being.A menstrual cup is a device used to manage menstrual flow and it is claimed to be health and environment friendly as an alternative to the conventional menstrual products.Menstrual cups are economical and have been explored as an option in many developing countries.Setting and Design: The setting chosen was KLE Society's Raja Lakhamgouda Science Institute and KLE Society's Lingaraj College, Belagavi, Karnataka.The design included a descriptive survey.Methods and Material: Non-probability convenient sampling was adopted to select 273 menstruating women.Data was collected using a socio-demographic proforma and a questionnaire that used to obtain information on the individual's personal menstrual history, items related to the use of current sanitary protection and items related to menstrual cups.Statistical analysis used: Descriptive and inferential statistics using 2 analysis.Results: The overall mean perception and acceptability score is 11.2 whereas the standard deviation is 2.89 of reproductive women in regards to menstrual cups.Conclusion: Majority of the women 161 (59%) had neutral perception on menstrual cups, about 64 (23.4%) had a positive perception and only 48 (17.6%) had a negative perception on menstrual cups.