Survey study, 1994
How do women describe their own premenstrual changes?
Women describe changes in a structured way covering whether changes happen, when they occur, what type they are, and what effects they have. This structure differs slightly from how standard questionnaires ask about PMS.
What they did
Textual analysis of open-ended written responses from 336 women who completed the Premenstrual Assessment Form. Of these, 261 provided written narratives describing their premenstrual changes.
What they found
Women's descriptions followed a logical hierarchy: the presence or absence of changes, their timing, what type of change, and cumulative effects (consequences). Although the types of symptoms matched the questionnaire, the timing and cumulative effects did not completely align with the questionnaire structure.
What it means for you
Standard questionnaires may not capture how women actually experience premenstrual changes. Future questionnaires could be redesigned based on how women naturally describe their experiences. This analyzed written descriptions from 261 women, not all participants.
336
Women who completed the questionnaire
261
Who provided written narrative summaries
About the study
- Original title
- "So mean and cranky, I could bite my mother": an ethnosemantic analysis of women's descriptions of premenstrual change
- Authors
- Cumming CE, Urion C, Cumming DC et al.
- Journal
- Women & health
- Year
- 1994
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 336
- What was tested
- None.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1300/j013v21n04_02