Feminine Hygiene and Vaginal Douche Practices in Middle-aged Women

Ahn, Sukhee

doi:2013.19.4.285

Korean J Women Health Nurs > Volume 19(4); 2013 > Article

Original Article

Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing 2013;19(4):285-294.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2013.19.4.285 Published online December 31, 2013.

Feminine Hygiene and Vaginal Douche Practices in Middle-aged Women

Sukhee Ahn

College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea. sukheeahn@cnu.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
The study was done to survey feminine hygiene and vaginal douche practices in middle-aged women to obtain basic information for public health education.
METHODS
With a descriptive survey design, 134 middle-aged women who have menstrual period were recruited via convenience sampling. Survey contents were from the study by Czerwinski (2000) regarding feminine hygiene and vaginal douching practices. After obtaining IRB approval, a self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed to study participants.
RESULTS
Mean age of middle-aged women was 46.88 years old. Fifty-six percent of the women practiced vaginal douching. Women performed douching with water (68%), commercial products (13%), soap (12%), and vinegar-mixed water (6%) for clean and fresh feeling, removal of unpleasant odor, and removal of vaginal discharge. Vaginal douche practice was significantly related to a history of vaginitis.
CONCLUSION
The study results indicate that most of the women practiced inadequate feminine hygiene especially in douching, suggesting that is important to develop education programs on feminine hygiene practices for women of all ages, especially regarding douching and hand washing before and after changing pads or tampons.

Key Words: Feminine hygiene; Douching; Hand washing; Menstruation