Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Life Style Changes in Prevention of Pre-Menstrual Syndrome among Adolescent Girls in a Selected School at Dehlon, Ludhiana

Background:

Menstruation is an important part of female reproductive cycle, but menstrual dysfunction in adolescent girls may affect the normal life of adolescent girls. Most of the adolescent girls were affected by PMS symptoms like dysmenorrhoea, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia. Poor nutritional status and anaemia were also associated with common menstrual problems among adolescent girls. The menstrual cycle is the scientific term for the physiological changes that can occur in fertile women for the purpose of sexual reproduction and fertilization. The menstrual cycle, under the control of endocrine system. Menstrual cycles are counted from the first day of menstrual bleeding, Average of 28 days. Different phases are menstrual, proliferative, ovulatory, luteal, ischemic and follicular phase.

The frequency of premenstrual syndrome in India was 53% according to ICD-10 criteria, among which 42% was mild, 18.2% moderate and 31.7% severe. A total of 64 girls (18.2%) met the DSM-IV criteria for severe PMS or Premenstrual Dysphoric disorder (PMDD). The order of frequency of symptoms occurring in PMS was general body discomfort, anxiety, backache, fatigue and depression. Most frequently reported symptoms in PMDD group were anger, anxiety, stress, depression, fatigue and general body discomfort.

Objectives:

* To determine the pre-test knowledge of adolescents on lifestyle changes in prevention of premenstrual syndrome.

* To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on lifestyle changes in prevention of premenstrual syndrome

* To find the association between lifestyle changes and demographic variables.

Method:

A pre experimental, one group pre-test post-test design was used for the study. Using the purposive random sampling technique, 50 adolescent girls were selected and the data was collected by administering the Structured Knowledge Questionnaire on premenstrual syndrome during adolescence period. After collecting data, the planned teaching programme (PTP) was administered to the subjects on the same day and on 8^thday, a post-test was conducted using the same Structured Knowledge Questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results:

The analysis of the pretest knowledge shows that in the pre test scores, majority (22%) of the adolescent girls had average knowledge, 78% of them had poor knowledge and none of them had good knowledge where as in the post test, majority (60%) of the adolescent girls had average knowledge, 38% of them had good knowledge and the least (2%) of them had poor knowledge regarding life style changes in prevention of premenstrual syndrome. There was no significant association of knowledge scores with the demographic variables like age, age at first menstruation, religion and family income and significant association of knowledge scores with the demographic variables like educational qualification and previous knowledge regarding life style changes in prevention of premenstrual syndrome.

Interpretation and Conclusion:

The findings of the study concluded that the planned teaching programme was effective in improving the knowledge of the adolescent girls regarding life style changes in the prevention of premenstrual syndrome during adolescence period. Educating the adolescent girls, will help them to become more aware about their own health and also helps for early detection and treatment.