Survey study, 2016
Does teaching women about PMS help reduce their symptoms?
Yes, in this study. Women who received an educational program showed increased knowledge about PMS and reduced symptom severity both immediately after and at three-month follow-up. However, the study lacked a comparison group, so natural improvement cannot be ruled out.
What they did
A before-and-after study of 60 nursing students with PMS symptoms, 75.8% aged 20-24 years. They received an educational program and completed questionnaires about knowledge and symptoms before the program, immediately after, and three months later.
What they found
Knowledge scores increased from 34.72 before the program to 86.28 after (p < 0.01). PMS severity scores decreased from 132.42 before to 107.52 after (p < 0.01). At three-month follow-up, symptom severity was 3.4 in month 1, 2.6 in month 2, and 2.2 in month 3.
What it means for you
Education about PMS may help reduce symptom severity. However, this was a small study without a control group of students who did not receive education, so we cannot be confident the program itself caused the improvement.
60
Students with PMS
34.72 to 86.28
Knowledge score before and after program
132.42 to 107.52
PMS severity score before and after program
About the study
- Original title
- Effects of an educational program in increasing knowledge and reducing premenstrual syndrome signs, symptoms and severity among nursing college students
- Authors
- Nafisa Abdalla, Mohammed Ibrahim Ahmed Gibreel
- Journal
- International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences
- Year
- 2016
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 60
- What was tested
- Educational program about PMS
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.14419/ijbas.v5i4.6001
Original abstract
Objective: The objective of the following study is to determine the effects of an Educational Program in increasing knowledge and reducing premenstrual syndrome symptoms and severity among nursing college students.Material and Methods: A total of 60 students with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) symptoms were included in the study group (n=60), the age of the majority of them (75.8%) was between 20-24 years, pre and post education program questionnaire was developed as a tool of data collection before and after the educational program. Also premenstrual symptoms and severity follow-up sheet was designed and conducted three month after the post education program to follow the effectiveness of the educational program in reducing the severity of the symptoms.Results: The study results indicate that there was significant difference between students’ knowledge before and after the program, the total score mean rank before program was (34.72), while after program was (86.28) p < 0.01 with significant difference between score before and after the program at 1% level of significant. It also shows a significant difference between PMS signs, symptoms and severity before and after program at 1% level of significant (total score mean and SD before program were (132.42, 13.72) respectively, and after program are (107.52, 14.47) respectively p < 0.01 with larger effect size of 0.613. The follow-up result shows a reduction in PMS symptom’s severity, the total severity averages of PMS sign and symptoms were 3.4 first month, 2.6 the second month and 2.2 for the third month out of 4 respectively.Conclusion: The educational program had a positive effect on increasing knowledge and decreasing PMS signs and symptoms severity. Also the program has decrease the effect of PMS signs and symptoms on study group life.
Reproduced under CC-BY.
Topics
Related studies
Systematic review, 2025
Does teaching adolescent girls about their menstrual cycle and health help reduce period pain and PMS?
Non-randomised trial, 2023
Does education about healthy lifestyle reduce PMS symptoms in high school girls?
Randomised trial, 2022
Does online counselling using cognitive-behavioral techniques help PMS symptoms?
Non-randomised trial, 2021
Does teaching girls about PMS improve their knowledge?
Non-randomised trial, 2020
Does an educational program improve girls' knowledge about PMS?
Survey study, 2020
How many adolescent girls have PMS, and does teaching them about it help?