Effectiveness of a school-based health education program to improve the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome in high school girls in Ilam

Identification of emotion schemes in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) using an emotion-focused therapy (EFT) approach: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

In women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), emotional problems constitute most of their symptoms. This study aimed to identify the emotion schemes of women with PMDD and to determine the core emotional pains at the center of the emotion scheme of PMDD to facilitate the treatment of this disorder using an emotion-focused therapy (EFT) approach.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was performed using the directed content analysis method by Hsieh and Shannon. The participants were selected by purposive sampling. The Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) was used for the primary diagnosis of women, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5) was conducted for the final diagnosis. A total of 10 participants were examined via in-depth interviews in this study. The emotion scheme matrix was used as a framework to identify the emotion scheme of PMDD.

RESULTS

Based on the emotion scheme matrix, the participants' experiences were classified into two main themes, four categories, and eight subcategories, with 37 extracted codes.

CONCLUSION

Based on the present results, the primary and secondary emotions and behaviors in women with PMDD indicated perceptual-situational, bodily-expressive, motivational-behavioral, and symbolic-conceptual elements in line with the core emotional pains of desperation, despair, and feelings of worthlessness based on the primary maladaptive scheme of shame, which is responsible for different psychological symptoms.

Effectiveness of computer-based stress inoculation training (SIT) counseling approach on anxiety, depression, and stress of students with premenstrual syndrome

BACKGROUND

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a common public health issue affecting many women of reproductive age worldwide. This study has been designed to investigate of computer-based stress inoculation training (SIT) counseling approach on anxiety, depression, and stress of university students with PMS.

METHODS

A randomized trial study with two parallel arms was done from 30 October 2022 to 21 June 2023 on 100 university students aged 18 to 38 at Babol University of Medical Sciences. The participants were randomly divided into two groups intervention and control. The data collection tools included questionnaires on demographic-fertility characteristics, the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) and Riff's Psychological Well-being Scale (RPWS). The data were assessed using chi-square, t-student, ANOVA repeated measure, and linear regression tests. A significance level of P < 0.05 was considered for the analysis.

RESULTS

The results of the study showed that the SIT interventions decreased the PMS severity and most psychological factors so in the intervention group, SIT was able to significantly reduce anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and Sheehan's disability after intervention (P < 0.001). Based on multiple linear regression analysis, the most predictors of HADS were the PSS and SDS (β = 0.285, p = 0.009 and β = 0.236, p = 0.024, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The computer-based SIT counseling approach could reduce the severity of symptoms and psychological factors in students. Therefore, SIT intervention is recommended to manage their PMS.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

IRCT20230130057274N2.