Menstrual practice needs scale for the workplace: validation and associations with well-being among adult women in Kathmandu, Nepal and Nairobi, Kenya

Introduction: Unmet menstruation-related needs are common among women in low- and middle-income settings, negatively affect physical and mental health, and limit participation in education and employment. The primary focus of research on menstrual health (MH) has been adolescent girls. Menstrual experiences of adult women, especially in the workplace, are understudied. Materials and methods: selected well-being measures. Results: Factor analyses yielded a solution with good model fit. The model has four factors: workplace-related menstrual material satisfaction and access, disposal and changing environment, transport and storage, and menstrual material reliability. Tests of measurement invariance confirmed the MPNS-W performed equivalently across settings, and tests of internal consistency demonstrated its reliability. Controlling for wealth score, women with higher MPNS-W scores had significantly higher odds of reporting positive psychological well-being, not missing work because of the last menstrual period, and being completely confident managing menstruation at work. Discussion: MPNS-W scale scores can be used to assess determinants and outcomes of MH in the workplace while sub-scale scores can be examined relative to one another to identify priorities. Menstrual needs of women in the workplace are multidimensional and strongly associated with well-being, making tools like the MPNS-W critical for informing and evaluating programs designed to address menstrual experiences in the workplace.