Background:
Most women initiate the practice of douching on recommendation of female relatives, most commonly mothers, for the reason of hygiene. Recent reports indicated that if advised by a health professional to stop, women were less likely to consider douching healthful and were more likely to have tried to stop. Douching may be modifiable through behavioral interventions targeting mothers and daughters.

Objective:
To achieve an in-depth understanding of mothers' and daughters' douching practices and beliefs to inform the development of a behavioral intervention.

Method:
27 adolescent girls (age 14 to 17) and 18 women with adolescent daughters were recruited from a university adolescent health clinic and 3 urban STD clinics. Individual, open ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted and covered douching practices, positive and negative outcomes associated with douching and ideas about appropriate interventions to reduce or eliminate douching.

Result:
Mothers were more likely to douche than daughters. Non-douchers were more likely than douchers to be aware of the health consequences of douching. Both mothers and daughters reported learning about douching from mothers or other female relatives. Reasons for douching included a desire to feel clean after menstruation or sex, and concern about smell. Participants predicted that education on the negative consequences of douching and alternative ways to “feel clean” would be effective in reducing douching.

Conclusion:
Educational interventions may be successful to reduce or eliminate douching among women and girls.

Implications:
Educational programs to inform women and girls about the risks of douching should be implemented and evaluated.