ArticleBMC women's health2020
'Flower of the body': menstrual experiences and needs of young adolescent women with cerebral palsy in Bangladesh, and their mothers providing menstrual support.
Article in BMC women's health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- What is known about adolescent dysmenorrhoea in (and for) community health settings?Frontiers in reproductive health · 2024Pooled it
- Disability-inclusive reproductive healthcare: A reproductive health education intervention for caregivers of girls with cerebral palsy in India.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Communication about sexuality for adolescents with cerebral palsy and complex communication needs: A scoping review with framework synthesis.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2026Article
- A qualitative study on the experiences of caregivers on menstrual management of adolescent girls with developmental disabilities in selected special schools of Karveer Taluka, Maharashtra.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Unmet Menstrual Needs Among Bangladeshi Female University Students: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study Using the MPNS-36 Scale.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Experiences of caregivers of adolescent children with intellectual disabilities in menstrual hygiene management: obstacles and needs.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2025Article
- Changes in the menstrual hygiene management facilities and usage among Bangladeshi school girls and its effect on school absenteeism from 2014 to 2018.Global health action · 2024Article
- Menstrual hygiene management among reproductive-aged women with disabilities in Bangladesh.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Looking beyond Body Structure and Function: ICF Foci and Who Is Being Assessed in Research about Adolescents and Young Adults with Cerebral Palsy-A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Research priorities for improving menstrual health across the life-course in low- and middle-income countries.Global health action · 2023Article
- The Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy in Rural Bangladesh: A Qualitative Analysis.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study offers voice to young adolescent women with cerebral palsy (CP) in Bangladesh as they describe their menstrual experiences and needs, and their mothers providing menstrual support.
methodSemi-structured focus groups with adolescents with CP, and separately their mother. Data was analysed using a material discursive framework and drawing on feminist disability theory. Participants were recruited from the Bangladesh CP Register (BCPR); a population-based surveillance of children and adolescents with CP in rural Bangladesh.
resultsParticipants were 45 women including 12 female adolescents with CP and 33 female caregivers. Participants reported a wide range of experiences and needs; menarche acted as a gateway to menstrual information although for some a discourse of silence prevailed due to exclusion from peer and familial networks. Menstruation was discursively constructed as a sign of 'female maturation' marked by an expectation of 'independence', required for acceptance into socially valued adult roles, and was positioned alongside increased vulnerability to sexual abuse. Young adolescent women with CP were expected to 'quietly endure' the material aspects of menstruation although unmanaged pain and distress were described. Mothers reported an imperative for meeting their adolescent's menstrual needs however this role was discursively positioned as 'painful', 'irritating' and 'shameful', in part due to an absence of affordable, functional menstrual resources.
conclusionThe findings of the present study provide motivation for disability services in Bangladesh to account for the menstrual needs of young adolescent women with CP within service delivery through strategies such as providing menstrual education and by embedding value in constructs such as 'interdependence'. Moreover, interventions focused on alleviating menstrual pain among young adolescent women with CP as well as those targeted to alleviate distress among mothers providing menstrual care are required. Finally, policy responses are required to ensure that 'inclusive development' considers the needs of menstruating women with disability.
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