Vaginal Douching Practices of Women in Turkey

Abstract

Background: Vaginal douching involves introduction of liquid into the women’s vagina for perceived hygienic or therapeutic purposes. Objectives: To investigate the reasons of vaginal douche application and factors related to this practice. Design: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive survey. Settings: It was conducted in the outpatient clinic of Aegean Maternity Hospital of the Ministry of Health in Izmir, Turkey. Participants: A questionnaire developed for this study was completed by 1600 women. Methods: The interviews took place over a three month period in the out patient clinic. The questionnaire included six questions related to socio-demographic factors. Women were then asked whether or not they douched. Those who answered “yes” were further asked 12 questions including the frequency, duration, reasons for the douche, type of product most frequently used, why they initiated this practice and whether or not they had received education about douching. Chi-square test and Logistic regression analysis was used. Results: About 47.2% (n=755) of the participants used vaginal douche. Of this, 98.7% used it for cleanliness, about 60% applied “water only”,and 81.5% reported that suggestion to use vaginal douche was made by their “families”. The application of vaginal douche is more common among women 40 years or older and is used more widely by women less education than those well-educated . Conclusion: Vaginal douche is widely used by women who belived it’s beneficial. Hence, initiatives should be directed at changing women’s beliefs through training programmes aimed at changing their belief towards vaginal douche.