Effect of educational program on premenstrual syndrome in adolescent school girls
Keywords:
Premenstrual symptoms, Adolescent girls, EducationAbstract
Background: Premenstrual syndrome is a difficult problem in adolescence as the psychological changes that occur during the adolescent period are often complex and stressful.In this study, we aimed to study the prevalence and severity of premenstrual symptoms in adolescent girls and how effective an educational program is in decreasing the symptom severity in these girls.
Methods: An educational program was conducted in two rural and two urban secondary schools of Pondicherry in girls suffering from premenstrual symptoms. We assessed the symptom severity before conducting the educational program (pre-test) and three months following the program (post-test) by using a self-administered semi structured questionnaire.
Results: 40.9% of the urban girls and 51.6% of the rural girls were suffering from premenstrual symptoms. We noted a significant decrease in the total PMS scores and all the subscale scores (PMS - A, C, D, H and others) of the students three months after the educational program when compared to the scores before the program.
Conclusions: Women with PMS commonly present to their doctor with a self-diagnosis, only when the symptoms severely hamper their day to day activities. We suggest that health education programs regarding PMS and other menstrual problems must be included in the curriculum of secondary schools to bring down the prevalence of such problems.
Metrics
References
Chau JPC, Chang AM. Effects of an educational programme on adolescents with premenstrual syndrome. Health Education Research. 1999;14(6):817-30.
Ray S, Mishra SK, Roy AG, Das BM.. Menstrual characteristics: a study of the adolescents of rural and urban West Bengal, India. Ann Hum Biol. 2010;37(5):668-s81.
O’Brien. Premenstrual syndrome. In: Keith Edmonds D, eds. Dewhurst’ Text book of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 7th ed. USA: Blackwell publishing; 2007: 408-413.
Keith Edmonds D. Premenstrual syndrome. In: Keith Edmonds D eds. Dewhurst’ Text book of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 7th ed. USA: Blackwell publishing; 2007: 408-413.
Taghizadeh Z, Shirmohammadi M, Arbabi M, Mehran A. The Effect of Premenstrual Syndrome on Quality of Life in Adolescent Girls. Iran J Psychiatry. 2008;3:105-9.
Halbreich U, Borenstein J, Pearlstein T, Kahn LS. The prevalence, impairment, impact, and burden of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMS/PMDD). Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2003;28(Suppl 3):1-23.
Bakhshani NM, Mousavi MN, Khodabandeh G. Prevalence and severity of premenstrual symptoms among Iranian female university students. J Pak Med Assoc. 2009;59(4):205-8.
Tabassum S, Afridi B, Aman Z, Tabassum W, Durrani R. Premenstrual syndrome: frequency and severity in young college girls. J Pak Med Assoc. 2005;55(12):546-9.
Amita Singh, Dukhu Kiran, Harminder Singh, Bithika Nel, Prabhakar Singh, Pavan Tiwari. Prevalence and severity of dysmenorrhea: a problem related to menstruation, among first and second year female medical students. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2008;52(4):389-97.
K. Tamilselvi. Premenstrual Syndrome of Adolescent Girls in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, India. International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow. 2012;1(7):1-6.
Dharampal G. Dambhare, Sanjay V. Wagh, Jayesh Y. Dudhe. Age at Menarche and Menstrual Cycle Pattern among School Adolescent Girls in Central India. Global Journal of Health Science. 2012;4(1):105-11.
O’Brien PM. Helping women with premenstrual syndrome. BMJ. 1993 Dec;307(6917):1471-5.
