Do I need permission to use the MPQ?

No, you do not need permission to use any of the questions in the MPQ. This tool is freely available under a creative-commons by attribution license for non-commercial purposes. 
If you have found the MPQ useful, or have feedback based on your experience using the questions we would love to hear from you. Please drop us a note via the contact page.

The measure should be cited as:
Hennegan, J., Nansubuga, A., Akullo, A., Smith, C., & Schwab, K.J., (2020). The Menstrual Practices Questionnaire (MPQ): Development, elaboration, and implications for future research. Global Health Action, 13(1), 1829402.   https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2020.1829402

Users should see this publication for more information about each of the questions, and guidance for using the MPQ in your work.  

Do I need to use all of the items in the questionnaire?

No. Unlike the MPNS-36, the Menstrual Practices Questionnaire is designed to provide a comprehensive pool of questions about menstrual practices. Users can select questions that fit with their research questions and needs. We have provided more information on the rationale behind each question, and guidance for selection on the about page.

Can I change the time-frame on the MPQ?

The MPQ asks respondents about practices during their last menstrual period. Part of the purpose of the MPQ is to consolidate questions used across studies and contexts, this includes the recall period.

The MPQ questions could be updated to capture alternative time periods (e.g., over the last three menstrual periods). Users should be aware that if they select an alternative recall period, that the information collected will not be comparable to that in other studies, and in national monitoring surveys which ask about the last menstrual period. 

More research is needed on the influence of the recall period on the reliability of self-reported menstrual practices. 

Can I change the question wording?

Yes. The MPQ provides a basic set of questions that can be used to capture menstrual practices. When using the questionnaire in different settings and languages it is likely that some terms will need to be adapted, or that different phrasing will be more intuitive. For example, “menstrual materials” may need to be modified to a term appropriate for your population. When the survey is administered with an interviewer, or electronically, wording can also be updated for each respondent (e.g., “menstrual materials” could be replaced with the materials that the respondent reported using).

However, please note that when the meaning of the question is changed, responses may no longer be comparable to those in other studies.

What should I do if respondents miss some questions?

Users should adhere to best research practices when reporting survey non-response and missing data. The proportion of respondents that are missing should be transparently reported. Large proportions of missing data may indicate a question did not perform well in your population. There is no aggregated or total score associated with the MPQ so missing data can be reported for each item. 

Can the MPQ indicate good ‘menstrual hygiene’?

Questions included in the MPQ may be used to investigate the relationships between menstrual practices and reproductive tract infections or genital irritation. However, we do not believe the MPQ on its own offers a measure of menstrual hygiene. The questions could be used to make inferences about menstrual hygiene in users populations. To do so users would need to outline their definition of menstrual hygiene, justify how this definition was operationalised in relation to the MPQ questions, and provide justification for which practices were considered ‘hygienic.’ Please see the about page for more discussion of this topic.

Is there a translation of the MPQ for my language?

We aim to update this website with information on new translations as they become available. See the View and Download page for current versions and their citations. We may not be alerted to all translations of the tool.  
If you have translated the MPQ questions and are willing to make your translation freely available, please send us a note via the contact page.

I have more questions about the measure, can I contact the developers?

 Yes, you can get in touch via the contact page.