Effects of vaginal douching education on Turkish women's vaginal douching practice

Abstract

Background: Vaginal douching (VD) is a very common practice in Turkish culture. This practice is affected by individual and cultural characteristics. Purpose: The aim of the research was to determine how the education based on Pender's Health Promotion Model (HPM) affects women's decision to quit vaginal douche and the factors that cause women to continue VD practices. Methods: The HPM guided the 2-hr education process. The sample has 58 women. Results: As a result, the model education-based HPM helped 69% of women to quit VD practice. It was also determined that education affected women who performed VD to feel clean and to comply with the religion but was less effective in women who had lower education or performed VD to comply with the husband's demand. Conclusions: Finally, the study showed that the education based on HPM affected the women to change their attitude toward VD and quit it.