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Atousa Afsari et al.
INTRODUCTION
According to the de nition of World Health Organi-
zation (WHO), adolescence refers to 10-19 age groups
(Russell & Robert,2005). Since adolescents are a great
part of the population of the world, addressing various
related issues of them is very important (Alavi, Poush-
aneh,& Khosravi,2009; Taghizadeh Moghaddam , et
al, 2016). Based on statistics published by the Statis-
tical Center of Iran, more than 20% of the population
(of approximately 80 million) consists of 10 to 19 year-
old adolescents (Statistical Center, 2006; Valizade, Tay-
moori, Youse , et al, 2016 and Afsari et al., 2017).
Puberty is an important dimension of adolescence.
Knowledge of its natural process and its problems suc-
cessfully pass the individual to adulthood and fertility
(Khakbazan, et al, 2008; Charkazi, et al, 2016). The health
of girls in puberty is speci cally important compared to
boys. Puberty characteristics and speci c physical and
mental conditions of this period, related needs and their
fundamental role in reproduction have a signi cant
effect on their whole aspect of their life (Maleki, Delk-
housh & Haji Amini, 2010).
Puberty is the predictable sequence of hormonal and
physical changes, and these physical and physiologi-
cal changes are critical in most girls and boys (Wong
& Baker, 1998). Puberty health includes principles and
taking actions that result in maintenance and improve-
ment of physical, mental, and emotional health during
this period and requires education more than anything
else (Malekshahi & Farhadi, 2006).
According to previous studies in Iran, most adoles-
cent girls do not have enough information regarding
menstruation health and most of them have unpleas-
ant feelings about puberty and their rst menstruation
(Golchin, et al, 2012; Karimi, 1998). Sometimes, some
of puberty problems put the person at crisis. Three main
educational factors including family, school and society
play active role in order to eliminate or reduce these
problems (Kohstani, et al., 2010). Since the health of girls
in present will supply the health of future generations,
the conduction of vast studies on their knowledge and
behavior about puberty health and efforts for increasing
it, are kind of investments for achieving personal and
social health (Charandabi, et al, 2014). Therefore, the
present study has been tried to evaluate the knowledge
of adolescent girls in seventh and eighth high school
grades about puberty health.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was a descriptive-analytical study conducted
on 364 students in seventh and eighth grades in the
rst semester of the academic year (2015) in public and
private girl secondary schools in Tabriz. Tabriz is a big
city in North West of Iran. The participants were selected
using random cluster sampling. Out of the 107 second-
ary schools for girls (67 public schools and 40 private
schools besides schools for exceptional students) covered
by the Of ces of Education in the 5 districts of Tabriz, 8
public schools and 4 private schools were selected using
the simple random sampling method. Regarding that the
population of this study included 2,856 people, the size
of the sample was considered 364 people using Morgan
Table at 95% con dence interval. One-third of seventh
and eighth grades students in each school were randomly
selected using a table of random digits, and students who
had not experienced menstrual bleeding for more than 3
months, or who had taken part in similar research, were
omitted. After participants’ consent, the knowledge and
socio-demographic characteristics questionnaires were
lled by the students using one standard questionnaire
that was standardized in Iran by different authors. The
information was collected for one month from October
23, 2015 to November 23, 2015 in one shift from the sec-
ondary school girls in seventh and eighth grades.
The questionnaires used in studies conducted by
Mohammad Alizadeh et al. were employed to com-
plete the required information (Mohammad Alizadeh
Charandabi, Mirghafourvand, Rahmani, et al, 2014;
Mohammad Alizadeh Charandabi, Mirghafourvand,
Saghi, et al, 2014). The content and face validity of these
questionnaires (that included the three sections of socio-
demographic characteristic, questions about knowledge,
and questions about practice) were re-determined by
asking the opinions of 11 faculty members of the Nurs-
ing and Midwifery school in Tabriz. First names and
family names of the girls were not recorded on the ques-
tionnaires to keep anonymity.
The section on knowledge questionnaires included
15 questions with 4 possible answers for each one. One
point was given to each correct answer, and a zero for
a wrong answer or for an unanswered question. The
questions were on physical health such as understand-
ing puberty changes and the female reproductive sys-
tem, nutrition during the puberty period, physical activ-
ity and rest, skin health, menstrual health, and mental
health during puberty.
The section assessing practice of the girls included 32
items on physical health such as menstruation, nutri-
tion, sports, and physical activity and on mental health.
In fact, the students themselves reported their practice
because direct observation of the practice related to
puberty health in students was not possible. Each item
was answered based on the 4 point Likert scale (never,
sometimes, often, always) that received scores of 1 to 4,
respectively. Six items were scored inversely. The aspect
of practice was not evaluated in this article.
BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS PREDICTORS OF KNOWLEDGE OF PUBERTY HEALTH AMONG GIRL STUDENTS 265