Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on Knowledge regarding Postmenopausal Osteoporosis among women of selected Self-Help Groups

Background: Menopause is one of women’s most important life stage where it marks the end of menstruation. Postmenopausal osteoporosis refers to weakening of bone and increased susceptibility to fracture due to deficiency of oestrogen levels which results in rapid depletion of calcium from the skeleton over the period 10-15 years after menopause. Objective: The study aimed at assessing the existing level of knowledge of women regarding postmenopausal osteoporosis, determining the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding postmenopausal osteoporosis among women and finding the association between pre-test knowledge scores and selected demographic variables such as age, education, religion, marital status and source of information. Materials and Methods: An evaluative approach with pre-experimental (one group pre-test post-test) design was used for the study. The sample consisted of 60 women selected by purposive sampling technique. Pre-test was conducted by administering a structured interview schedule by the investigator. After the pre-test, the structured teaching programme was administered to the women and on seventh day post-test was conducted using the same structured interview schedule. The collected data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The Mean±SD (19.16±1.975) of post- test knowledge scores were higher than the Mean±SD (14.25±2.362) of pre-test knowledge scores. The computed ‘t’ value (t59 =16.59, p<0.05) showed a significant difference suggesting that the STP was effective in increasing the knowledge of women regarding postmenopausal osteoporosis. There was no significant association between the level of knowledge scores and selected baseline characteristics except with regard to age in years (ᵪ2=3.95) at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: The result showed that the structured teaching programme was effective in increasing the level of knowledge of women regarding postmenopausal osteoporosis.