Young Women' Perception of Vaginal Discharge and Traditional Practices for Vaginal Discharge

The aim of the study is to determine the perception levels of young women of vaginal discharge and their traditional practices for vaginal discharge. The population of the study, which is quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional, consists of a total of 285 students in the sample of female students (N= 4622) studying at a public university. The data collection form consists of 4 sections and 46 questions in total. Necessary institution permissions were obtained and appropriate statistical methods were used. The average age of women is 20.88 ± 1.52. The rate of abnormal vaginal discharge seen in the study is 19.3%. Among women, the rate of using traditional methods for complaints of vaginal discharge is 14.2%. Traditional methods used for abnormal discharge; drinking onion garlic parsley juice (14.7%), putting cotton or cloth in the vagina (11.2%), boiling onion, parsley, nettle, chamomile and washing the vagina (2.5%), vinegar, soda or wiping the vagina with lemon juice (0.9%), placing garlic in the bowl (1.8%). 12.6% of women using traditional methods stated that the method is effective. It is recommended to evaluate the traditional practices used for genitourinary tract infections, to consider the results such as effectiveness, harm, cost, and to conduct regional and more researches.