What makes teenage girls adopt behaviours to prevent PMS?

Background and Objective (s): Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refers to a group of physical, behavioral, and mood symptoms that appear about a week or two before menstruation begins. Given the prevalence of this syndrome among adolescents and young women, this study was performed with the aim of determining the predictors of adoption of preventive behaviors of PMS using the Health Belief Model (HBM) among female teenagers. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional-analytical study was conducted among 240 pre-university girl students of Tehran, Iran in 2016. The sampling was performed using multi-stage random sampling. The data collection tool was a demographic information, a valid and reliable questionnaire available including PMS preventive behaviors and all constructs of HBM. The data were collected and then entered into SPSS software version 16 and analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression tests and descriptive statistics. Results: The participated students obtained 38.5% of the score for the adoption of preventive behaviors of PMS. The three constructs of perceived barriers, perceived susceptibility and self-efficacy were predictors of adoption of preventive behaviors of PMS. Overall, these constructs were able to predict 32.6% of the behavioral changes. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, in the design and implementation of educational interventions should emphasize the constructs of perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers and self-efficacy as the most important predictors of adoption of preventive behaviors of PMS among Female Teenagers.

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