The Efficacy of Information Education Communication (IEC) Package on Management of Dysmenorrhea

AR Bharathi^*

^*Correspondence: AR Bharathi, Department of Nursing, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, India, Email:

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Introduction

Adolescence is a crucial transition period in the life especially for girls; it is a transition from complete independence to the relative independence status including physical, endocrinal, emotional, and mental growth [1]. At this stage, they are tending to have major responsibilities and development in physical and psychological aspects. Menarche is one of such changes and it has enormous effects on their psycho-physical activities. It is the first step for entering in to the maturity from childhood [2]. Menstruation is defined as the monthly cycle or monthly vaginal discharges taking place in woman’s body. It starts from their 8-15 years and last up to 40 to 60 and its duration may vary one another and person to person [3]. These usual monthly cycles have tremendous effects on the women’s body and mind, though it is normal, they generally feel the Dysmenorrhoea. The dysmenorrhea is a common term that indicating the painful menstruation and it is a sole cause for experiencing the sickness that resulting in absenteeism (30 to 51%) from classes and work by the female student community [2]. This could be managed by various medical measures and the younger ones need to be taught for it. The primary and secondary dysmenorrhea is broad types of the dysmenorrhea. Approximately, 72% teenage girls (13 to 19 years) and more than 40% of adults have primary dysmenorrhea and commonly, it is not associated with macroscopic pelvic pathology [4]. The Secondary dysmenorrhea is characterized by the abnormal pain that is involved in anatomic and/or macroscopic pelvic pathology like leiomyoma, endometriosis, adenomyosis, PID, ovarian cyst etc. The cramps during the dysmenorrhea could be extended to the back and legs also; it has moderate to severe side effects such as headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation etc4. The elevated prostaglandin F2α (PG F2α) level is a major reason for the cramps during the menstruation arising from the blood flow interaction particularly a reduction in blood to myometrium [5].

The dysmenorrhea is a serious health problem that could give severe implications in their personal and social life. In Indian scenario, its prevalence varied from 33% to 79.67% among the women population. Due to dysmenorrhea sickness absenteeism and perceived quality of life losses are prevalent among adolescent girls that are about 28– 56% [3]. The results of dysmenorrhea could be had considerable suffering and economic loss. The relief for it mainly focused on the usage of the drugs and considerable sources might rely on the practice changes including the cultural practices, stress management, diet and exercise. Nowadays, the alternative and complementary therapies seems to be a better alternatives for the health care industries that the usage of heat or cold, acupressure, acupuncture, aroma therapy, music and TENS have been found to be very effective [5-9]. The present study aimed to assess the efficacy of information education communication (IEC) package on management of dysmenorrhea.

Materials and Methods

The present research was conducted among the girls from Shree Bharath Vidyaashram, Selaiyur, and Chennai. The adolescent girls who attained menarche and studying in 8th, 9th and 10th standard at Shree Bharath Vidyaashram were participated in the study. The study was designed with a quasi-Experimental research design (One Group pre-test post-test Design) and followed the simple random sampling technique. The present study was based on the three level tests i.e., pre-test, intervention and post-test. The pre-test was assessing the level of knowledge on management of dysmenorrhea. The intervention was conducted to analyse the Information Education Communication package on management of dysmenorrhea. The final test, the post test was to analyze the level of knowledge on management of dysmenorrhea among the adolescent students [1-4].

Results and Discussion

Results are explained in the Figures 1 to Figure 6.

Figure 1: Age at menarche.

Figure 2: Area of residence in studied girls.

Figure 3: Family history of dysmenorrhea in adolescent girls.

Figure 4: Distribution of level of knowledge on pretest.

Figure 5: The distribution of level of knowledge among the adolescent girls.

Figure 6: Level of knowledge on various aspects of management of dysmenorrhea.

Previous study [10-13] pointed out that the nearly 77% of the girls from Pune, India showed inadequate knowledge in managing the menorrhea and 31% had enough knowledge on it. Similar to it, a previous study also indicated the same result from her study in Bangalore region4. These results showed the adolescent girls usually lacking enough knowledge for managing the menstrual problems irrespective of rural and urban back ground. In contrast to, a study5 showed that 74% of girls had adequate knowledge and 26% had moderately adequate knowledge and none had inadequate knowledge from Hariyana. Altogether, those results informed that the need of an educational program for adolescent girls.

Conclusion

The present study showed that the majority of the adolescent girls lack the knowledge in managing the menorrhea and its associated problems. This study also showed that the urgent need of including an educational program on menorrhea related aspects for girls at primary education level.

Funding

No funding sources.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The encouragement and support from Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India is gratefully acknowledged for providing the laboratory facilities to carry out the research work.

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