Endicott College
Project Title: Community-Based Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Caregivers to Implement Menstrual Hygiene Skills
Sarah Kristiansen, Dr. Noor Syed, and Stephen Kabenge will use the grant awarded by SABA to teach menstrual care skills to those caring for individuals with developmental disabilities in Entebbe, Uganda. Stephen Kabenge is affiliated with Embrace Kulture, an organization who serves individuals with developmental disabilities in Uganda. Stephen first brought the idea for the project to the group after noticing the current curriculum’s lack of guidance in strategies to teach puberty-related skills to students. Sarah, Stephen, and a local teacher have collaborated to develop training materials and instructional strategies to support parents and teachers in the community. Sarah and the local teacher will continue to meet prior to scheduled travel dates to refine the materials in an attempt to create a sustainable curriculum that will be useful for future educators.
The first live, in-person training will take place in Entebbe in December of 2024 at no cost to teachers or caregivers within the community who would like to attend. The training activities will include an informational session on puberty and the menstrual cycle. The materials for this session have been created with ongoing collaboration from the local teacher to capture relevant cultural information. The information session will take place before teaching sessions begin. The attendees will then experience hands-on training that includes role-playing how to teach changing a sanitary napkin/towel with Sarah. Throughout the process, the attendees will be given the option to give their opinions regarding the training procedures, the teaching procedures, and to give ideas for future iterations of the training and its materials. Following training with caregivers and teachers within the community, instructional sessions with local educators will take place to teach the best ways to deliver these instructional strategies so future training can occur when students might need to learn menstrual care skills. Training materials will be modified based on this initial group’s feedback to leave the community with a curriculum that educators can use in the future.
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