Abstract:

Objective：To analyze the knowledge, attitude and behavior of menstruation among female students of a university and the influencing factors, and to provide the theoretical basis for health care in the menstrual period of female college students. Methods: A stratified random sampling was used. Questionnaires designed independently were adopted. Epidata software was used to establish database and the statistical software SPSS17.0 was chosen for statistical analysis.Results: Female college students' knowledge of menstruation mainly came from classroom learning, classmates, friends, parents, teachers, books and magazines. The difference between female students of medicine major and non-medicine major was statistically significant（P﹤0.05）as to three kinds of sources of knowledge, i.e. classroom learning（χ²=13.620, P=0.020）, books and magazines（χ²=11.684, P=0.033）, the internet（χ²=7.968, P=0.041）. The rates of awareness of menstruation between female students of medicine major and non-medicine major were 89.56% and 71.09% respectively. The difference between female students of medicine major and non-medicine major was statistically significant（P﹤0.05）as to the rates of awareness of three aspects, i.e. the concept of "menstruation"（χ²=10.263，P=0.027）, menstrual cycle （χ²=14.274，P=0.013）and menstrual period （χ²=12.827，P=0.038）. According to regression analysis, factors influencing the knowledge of menstruation included the major （medicine or non-medicine）, age, and the only child or not. The OR and 95% confidence interval were 1.980 （1.345~2.916）, 2.827 （1.382~5.785）and 0.604 （.367~.992）. Conclusion: The female college
students have some knowledge of menstruation, but it is not comprehensive. The university should strengthen education aiming at female students of different majors.

Key words: menstruation, knowledge, attitude and behavior, female college students, investigation