Youth insights on menstrual health and hygiene in Burkina Faso; a comparison of written versus spoken qualitative text
6 affiliations
- 1Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2Madrilenian Health Service, Madrid, Spain
- 3Nouna Health Research Centre, Namory Kéita, Nouna, Burkina Faso
- 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Health, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Muntinlupa, Philippines
- 5School of Global Health, Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Canada
- 6Chair of Development Economics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
Abstract
Understanding girls’ lived experiences with menstruation is essential yet can be challenging given the taboo nature of the topic. While diaries have not previously been employed as a data collection method among girls in this setting, the use of diaries could generate unique insights due to their private, reflective, and participant-led nature. Our study aimed to explore the menstrual health and hygiene experiences of schoolgirls in Burkina Faso, comparing diaries and in-person interviews, and to capture girls’ thoughts on the process and value (or lack thereof) of diary writing. This study involved 30 girls aged 10–19 years to understand their experiences of menstruation. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches within a systematic thematic analysis framework, supported by NVivo 12 pro. Common social meanings attached to menarche include “becoming a woman” and “staying away from boys”. Bullying, stigma, and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities were identified as major challenges in schools. For some, the diary provided a safe space to express their thoughts and share their menstruation stories. However, challenges with diary writing included its additional workload, limitations linked to language proficiency and writing ability, and perceptions of the diaries as being repetitive in terms of questions. Diaries and IDIs generated similar menstruation-related themes, indicating that they are equally effective in capturing experiences on this topic among this respondent group in this setting. Our study reinforces the need to support schoolgirls in achieving menstrual health and wellbeing. Efforts should prioritize promoting education across communities to mitigate the impact of cultural and religious restrictions. In contexts where participants have limited writing and language proficiency, future studies may consider alternative methods that nevertheless facilitate privacy and are respondent-driven, such as audio diaries. Further research could benefit from adopting either method of data collection to fit the contextual needs of participants.
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BibTeX
@article{akinreni2026youth,
title = {{Youth insights on menstrual health and hygiene in Burkina Faso; a comparison of written versus spoken qualitative text}},
author = {Temidayo Akinreni and Teresa Buitrago-García and N. Hélène Sawadogo and Aurélia Souares and Mark Donald C Reñosa and Kerry Scott and Ali Sié and Sarah Langlotz and Till Bärnighausen and Shannon A McMahon},
journal = {PLOS Global Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pgph.0006804},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006804},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Youth insights on menstrual health and hygiene in Burkina Faso; a comparison of written versus spoken qualitative text
AU - Temidayo Akinreni
AU - Teresa Buitrago-García
AU - N. Hélène Sawadogo
AU - Aurélia Souares
AU - Mark Donald C Reñosa
AU - Kerry Scott
AU - Ali Sié
AU - Sarah Langlotz
AU - Till Bärnighausen
AU - Shannon A McMahon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
JO - PLOS Global Public Health
DO - 10.1371/journal.pgph.0006804
UR - https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006804
AB - Understanding girls’ lived experiences with menstruation is essential yet can be challenging given the taboo nature of the topic. While diaries have not previously been employed as a data collection method among girls in this setting, the use of diaries could generate unique insights due to their private, reflective, and participant-led nature. Our study aimed to explore the menstrual health and hygiene experiences of schoolgirls in Burkina Faso, comparing diaries and in-person interviews, and to capture girls’ thoughts on the process and value (or lack thereof) of diary writing. This study involved 30 girls aged 10–19 years to understand their experiences of menstruation. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches within a systematic thematic analysis framework, supported by NVivo 12 pro. Common social meanings attached to menarche include “becoming a woman” and “staying away from boys”. Bullying, stigma, and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities were identified as major challenges in schools. For some, the diary provided a safe space to express their thoughts and share their menstruation stories. However, challenges with diary writing included its additional workload, limitations linked to language proficiency and writing ability, and perceptions of the diaries as being repetitive in terms of questions. Diaries and IDIs generated similar menstruation-related themes, indicating that they are equally effective in capturing experiences on this topic among this respondent group in this setting. Our study reinforces the need to support schoolgirls in achieving menstrual health and wellbeing. Efforts should prioritize promoting education across communities to mitigate the impact of cultural and religious restrictions. In contexts where participants have limited writing and language proficiency, future studies may consider alternative methods that nevertheless facilitate privacy and are respondent-driven, such as audio diaries. Further research could benefit from adopting either method of data collection to fit the contextual needs of participants.
SN - 2767-3375
ER -