The Effect of Women’s Menstrual Attitudes and Hygiene Practices on Self-Care Behaviors

Objective: While menstrual attitudes and hygiene practices are often examined in the literature through informational, risk-based, and cultural lenses, studies that directly address their holistic relationship to self-care behaviors remain limited. This study aims to investigate the impact of women’s menstrual attitudes and hygiene practices on their self-care behaviors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analytical study. The study was completed between 5 October 2024 and 23 January 2025, with 700 women aged 18–49 in their reproductive period. Data were collected using a Demographic Information Form, the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire, and the Self-Care Inventory. Spearman’s correlation analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used for data analysis. To examine nonlinear relationships and multivariable interactions, a Random Forest regression analysis was performed. Results: A positive and statistically significant relationship was found between menstrual attitudes and overall self-care (r = 0.132, p < 0.001). MAQ scores did not differ significantly across variables (p > 0.05). However, SCI scores showed significant differences based on menstrual hygiene education status, type of underwear used during menstruation, hand hygiene practices, and frequency of menstrual material use (p < 0.05). According to the Random Forest regression model, menstrual attitudes were identified as the strongest predictor of self-care behaviors. Conclusions: The results of this study supported the positive influence of women’s menstrual attitudes and hygiene practices on their self-care behaviors. The relationships between self-care and parameters such as menstrual hygiene education, frequency and type of menstrual material use, and hand hygiene during menstruation were clearly demonstrated. Given the limited number of studies in this field, randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses with high levels of evidence are recommended to generalize these results.