Developing games as a qualitative method for researching menstrual hygiene management in rural Bolivia
Abstract
The onset of menstruation has proven challenging for girls in school, with absenteeism, missed class time, reduced participation, teasing, fear, shame, and risky adaptive behaviours among the most commonly noted impacts in many settings. In 2012, Emory University and UNICEF conducted a multi-country formative study to gain a global perspective of girls' experiences. A compendium of tools was created to ensure investigation of common themes across all settings. This paper describes the process of adapting the focus group discussion (FGD) tool for Bolivia into a board game as a method to ease girls' discomfort discussing menstruation and elicit richer data. We describe the development of the menstrual hygiene management game, including structure and strategies for adapting FGD questions that increased interaction, stimulated detailed responses, and diversified participatory activities. A discussion of lessons learned will highlight elements of success and areas for improvement in future game adaptations. The paper discusses games as a research method for other topics and their applications for programme design, monitoring, and skills-based learning.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Experiencing menstruation without proper structural environments, resources, information, and support may negatively impact women and girls' sense of agency, self-esteem, confidence, bodily autonomy, educational experiences, and participation, and may influence negative health outcomes associated with risky sexual behaviors.
“Experiencing menstruation without proper structural environments, resources, information, and support may impact women and girls’ sense of agency, self-esteem, confidence, bodily autonomy, educational experiences, and influence participation in and negative health outcomes associated with risky sexual behaviors [1–10].”
From ’It’s like a burden on the head’: Redefining adequate menstrual hygiene management throughout women’s varied life stages in Odisha, India. (2019) · cites this paper as [5]
Women and girls in lower and middle-income countries face a multitude of barriers to safe and comfortable menstrual hygiene management.
“Women and girls in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a multitude of barriers to safe and comfortable menstrual hygiene management (MHM).”
From ’It’s like a burden on the head’: Redefining adequate menstrual hygiene management throughout women’s varied life stages in Odisha, India. (2019) · cites this paper as [5]
Inadequate facilities in schools for water, sanitation, private changing, and disposal, and gendered and unsupportive school environments can lead to school absenteeism and potential disruptions in academic engagement and progress.
“Inadequate facilities in schools for water, sanitation, private changing, and disposal, and gendered and unsupportive school environments can lead to school absenteeism and potential disruptions in academic engagement and progress [2–8, 11–13, 15–18, 21, 26, 30, 36, 37].”
From ’It’s like a burden on the head’: Redefining adequate menstrual hygiene management throughout women’s varied life stages in Odisha, India. (2019) · cites this paper as [5]
Cites
Mason, L., Nyothach, E., Alexander, K., Odhiambo, F. O., Eleveld, A., Vulule, J., Rheingans, R., Laserson, K. F., Mohammed, A., & Phillips-Howard, P. A. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079132 · Cited by 375 · see citing works
McMahon, S. A., Winch, P. J., Caruso, B. A., Obure, A. F., Ogutu, E. A., Ochari, I. A., & Rheingans, R. D. (2011) · BMC International Health and Human Rights · doi:10.1186/1472-698x-11-7 · Cited by 316 · see citing works
Self-citationSommer, M. (2010) · Journal of Adolescence · doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.03.008 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Menstrual knowledge and practices of female adolescents in urban Karachi, Pakistan
Ali, T. S., & Rizvi, S. N. (2010) · Journal of Adolescence · doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.05.013 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Sommer, M., Ackatia-Armah, N., Connolly, S., & Smiles, D. (2015) · Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education · doi:10.1080/03057925.2013.871399 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
A blind spot in girls education: menarche and its webs of exclusion in Ghana
Dolan, C. S., Ryus, C. R., Dopson, S., Montgomery, P., & Scott, L. (2014) · Journal of International Development · doi:10.1002/jid.2917 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Alexander, K., Oduor, C., Nyothach, E., Laserson, K., Amek, N., Eleveld, A., Mason, L., Rheingans, R., Beynon, C., Mohammed, A., et al. (2014) · Water · doi:10.3390/w6051453 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Putting menstrual hygiene management on to the school water and sanitation agenda
Marni Sommer, M. S. (2010) · Waterlines · doi:10.3362/1756-3488.2010.030 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Classroom Choices for Enabling Peer Learning
Cooper, S. M. A. (2002) · Theory Into Practice · doi:10.1207/s15430421tip4101_9 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Sommer, M. (2011) · The international electronic journal of health education · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
MacRae, E. R., Clasen, T., Dasmohapatra, M., & Caruso, B. A. (2019) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0220114 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Self-citationGirod, C., Ellis, A., Andes, K. L., Freeman, M. C., & Caruso, B. A. (2017) · Journal of Urban Health · doi:10.1007/s11524-017-0189-3 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Murat Sahin, M. S., Jeanne Long, J. L., Bethany Caruso, B. C., Matthew Freeman, M. F., Maribel Mamani, M. M., Gladys Camacho, G. C., & Koenraad Vancraeynest, K. V.
- Venue
- Waterlines
- Publisher
- Practical Action Publishing
- Published
- 2015-01-01
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 68-78
- ISSN
- 0262-8104 (ISSN-L)
- 1756-3488
- OpenAlex
- W2034386591
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 0.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Waterlines (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Menstrual Health and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Participatory Visual Research Methods
- Keywords
- menstrual hygiene management, participatory research, rural Bolivia, school absenteeism, game-based learning, program design
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
