Coping Methods Used by Students of a Health School for Dysmenorrhea Management

Abstract

In the study, it was aimed to determine the coping methods used by health school students for dysmenorrhea management. The population of the cross-sectional and descriptive study consisted of midwifery students (N=280) studying at a public university. Volunteer (n=240) participants who met the sampling study criteria were recruited.Data were collected with the Descriptive Information Form, the VAScale, and the Menstrual Symptom Severity Scale (MSSS). The mean age of the students was 19.92±1.51 and the mean menstrual period was 5.68±1.48 days. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 42.1%, the mean pain severity in the VAS for dysmenorrhea was 5.04±3.01, and the mean MSSS score was 21.16±11.25. It was stated that 90.8% of the students did not receive any medical treatment for dysmenorrhea, 76.2% of them used non-pharmacological different coping methods for dysmenorrhea, the most used methods were 65.4% hot application, 60.4% lying down, 49.5% pressure by tying a belt on the abdomen and 47.9%. was found to be taking a bath. 91.9% of the students stated that coping methods were used at the beginning of menstruation, and the severity of pain (95.2%), frequency (69%) and duration (76.5%) decreased after the application of the method. It was determined that applying heat did not significantly affect the severity (χ2=0.137,p=1.000), duration (χ2=2.020,p=0.199) and frequency (χ2=0.854, p=0.653) of the pain. Bath type had a significant effect on post-application pain severity (χ2=12.072,p=0.002) in those who preferred to cope with the bathing method. Preferring coping methods such as massage, lying down, feeding, pressing on the abdomen did not have a significant effect on the severity, duration, and frequency of pain after the application (p>0.05). There was a significant difference between the times of applying any method and the severity of their pain (χ2=20.495,p=0.000). To cope with dysmenorrhea, applying heat, lying down, pressing on the abdomen, bathing, while using herbal tea, massage, exercise, walking, nutrition and listening to music, it seems beneficial to take a standing bath at the beginning of menstruation. More research is needed on the methods used to cope with dysmenorrhea and their effectiveness.