Youth insights on menstrual health and hygiene in Burkina Faso; a comparison of written versus spoken qualitative text

Background Proper menstrual health and hygiene remains a significant challenge for many schoolgirls in Burkina Faso. Understanding girls’ lived experiences with menstruation is essential, yet can be challenging given the taboo nature of the topic. While diaries have not previously been employed as a data collection method among girls in this setting, the use of diaries could generate unique insights due to their private, reflective, and participant-led nature. Our study aimed to explore the menstrual health and hygiene experiences of schoolgirls in Burkina Faso, comparing diaries and in-person interviews, and to capture girls’ thoughts on the process and value (or lack thereof) of diary writing. Methods This formative study involved 30 girls aged 12–19 years and began with an initial round of in-depth interviews to understand their experiences of menstruation. Participants were then invited to participate in a three-month diary exercise, followed by a second round of in-depth interviews focused on menstruation and the use of diaries. A systematic inductive and deductive approach was used for the analysis, supported by NVivo 12 pro. Results Common social meanings attached to menarche include “becoming a woman” and “staying away from boys”. Some girls said that they or their peers had to avoid cooking, attending festivals, and participating in religious prayers while menstruating. Teasing, stigma, and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities were identified as major challenges in schools. For some, the diary provided a safe space to express their thoughts and share their stories about menstruation. However, challenges with diary writing included its additional workload, limitations linked to language proficiency and writing, and perceived repetitive questioning. Diaries and IDIs generated similar menstrual-related themes, indicating that they are equally effective in capturing experiences on this topic among this respondent group in this setting. Conclusions Our study reinforces the need to support schoolgirls in achieving menstrual health and wellbeing. Efforts should prioritize promoting education across communities to mitigate the impact of cultural and religious restrictions. In contexts where participants have limited writing and language proficiency, future studies may consider alternative methods that nevertheless facilitate privacy and are respondent-driven, such as audio diaries. Further research could benefit from adopting either method of data collection to fit the contextual needs of participants.