NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, researchers have validated a scale to measure period product insecurity, a problem affecting 2 in 5 people who menstruate in the United States, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies. The scale makes it possible to quantify how common the problem is and evaluate whether interventions are working – evidence that can inform public policy.

The Van Ness Period Product Insecurity Scale (VNPPIS) was recently published in the journal Women's Health by Dr. Kels M. Bowman, who created the scale as part of her doctoral dissertation at Duke University.

Bowman's study showed that 18 to 20% of people who buy menstrual products reported having had difficulty affording them in the past year. It also found a correlation between period product insecurity and symptoms of depression and anxiety, among people who menstruate. Period product insecurity was more common in households where multiple people required these basic necessities.

The scale is named in honor of Susan Van Ness, a former nonprofit leader at the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN). Van Ness, who died in a plane crash in 2024, became a mentor to Bowman during an undergraduate internship at NDBN and, for years afterward, strongly supported Bowman's work to pursue basic needs research.

"She was my biggest fan before I had a lot of fans," Bowman recalled.

The scale is an asset for researchers seeking to better understand the widespread presence of period poverty, and to develop public policy that ensures people have the menstrual products they require to work, attend school, and thrive.

"Policymakers rightly want to see how effective a program is when they devote public funds to it. Now we can show them," said NDBN Chief of Government Relations Lacey Gero.

"Whether we are talking about community-based distribution programs or legislation that makes these products freely available in schools, the Van Ness Period Product Insecurity Scale can reliably measure the scope of period poverty and inform how it can be addressed."

The VNPPIS includes a seven-item gold standard scale for rigorous research applications, and a four-item short form tailored for time- or resource-constrained settings. The scales capture four key domains of period product insecurity: access and affordability, worry, coping, and consequences.

In developing the scale, Bowman recognized that it needed to be highly accurate for academic research and easily used in community settings where time and money are both scarce.

"The VNPPIS allows us to measure period product insecurity in a way that includes both people who use period products and people who purchase them for others they live with," said NDBN Director of Research & Statistics Dr. Kelley Massengale. "Bowman's work shines a light on period product insecurity as a multidimensional experience."

NDBN formed the Alliance for Period Supplies in 2018 to respond to period product insecurity, a widespread problem exacerbated by poverty, and which threatens the physical, mental, and economic well-being of 2 in 5 people who menstruate [Source: Alliance for Period Supplies]. Van Ness was the organization's first director of programs. The Alliance for Period Supplies supports more than 140 community-based nonprofits, distributes menstrual products and advocates for local, state, and federal policy solutions to end period poverty/period product insecurity.

More information about period poverty is available at allianceforperiodsupplies.org.

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Briana Haas
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SOURCE Alliance for Period Supplies