J Korean Acad Womens Health Nurs.  1997 Mar;3(1):31-40.

The Effects of Educational Program for Women with Premenstrual Syndrome

• Min AK

Abstract

To examine the effects of an educational program with a purpose of reducing symptoms and ailments of women's premenstrual syndrome on the basis of the Self-care theory of Orem, a stimulation was carried out by using pre-and post-design of non-equity control group after choosing both an experimental group of 62 persons and a control group of 62 persons among 497 industrial women. This study was conducted from June 20, 1996 to September 30, 1996. Meantime, an education was provided for the experimental group of 62 persons for 8 weeks but no education for the control group of 62 persons. Study matters are general and obstetric characteristics, knowledge and self-care behavior and premenstrual syndrome from questionnaires with 497 industrial women, pre and post questionnaires with the control group of 62 persons and the questionnaires collected before and after providing an education for the experimental group of 62 persons, these matters were used as research data for this study and analyzed by means of the SAS program. As a result, it was shown that the scores of 497 industrial women's knowledge by age were the highest 26.36 for 20 to 29 year old women, then 25.58 for 30 to 39 year old women and 25.74 for less 19 year old women. The performance scores of their self-care behavior by age were the highest 39.17 for 30 to 39 year old women, 35.72 for 20 to 29 year old women and 32.85 for less 19 year old women, which means that the older the women are, the higher the performance degree is(p<0.01). And the scores of their premenstrual syndrome by age were 2.80 for less 19 year old women, 2.18 for 20 to 29 year old women and 2.00 for 30 to 39 year old women. Women in their teens and twenties showed more serious symptoms and ailments of premenstrual syndrome than women in their thirties(p<0.01). For the experimental group of 62 persons who received the educational program, both the knowledge of premenstrual syndrome and the degree of self-care behavior were remarkably improved(p<0.01), respectively and the symptoms and ailments of premenstrual syndrome were also remarkably reduced(p<0.01), while the control group showed no change in the knowledge, self-care behavior, and symptoms and ailments of premenstrual syndrome. The above results demonstrated that educational program based on the Self-care theory of Orem is an effective intervention to reduce the symptoms and ailments of premenstrual syndrome. The effects of the study can be generalized by extending the application in which various age groups and professional and social environments are considered together with a research to evaluate the long-term effects of this educational program. Accordingly, it is expected that it can possible not only to provide help for the women by actually applying the program to practical areas for improvement of women's health but also to suggest plans to activate it as one of health education areas.

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Adult
Education
Female
Health Education
Humans
Premenstrual Syndrome*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Self Care
Social Environment
Women's Health
Young Adult