Assessment of Premenstrual Syndrome and Coping Strategies among Female Students of the School of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

There are several health problems associated with menstruation. One of the most common problems is premenstrual syndrome which occurs when the premenstrual symptoms are severe enough to disturb the quality of life of a woman. Aim: The study aimed to determine the common premenstrual symptoms, various coping strategies, and health-seeking behaviours adopted by female students in the School of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. Method: Cross-sectional design was adopted for the study. The questionnaire was used for the collection of data; a multistage sampling technique was adopted to select three hundred and ten (310) students from the four (4) departments proportionately. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data collected using SPSS version 21.0. Results: The result showed that the most common premenstrual syndrome was mood swing 240 (77.7%), irritability 184(59.5%), fatigue 181(59.5%), and breast tenderness 171(55.3%). The degree of the menstrual syndrome was low 241(78.0%), moderate 206(66.7%). Common coping strategies were resting 206(66.9%), sleeping 200(64.7%), accepting the process as natural 148(47.9%), and the majority 273(88.3%) had negative health-seeking behaviour. Findings of the hypotheses testing revealed that there is no significant relationship between students’ age and premenstrual syndrome and no significant association between premenstrual syndrome and course of study. Conclusion: It was concluded that the respondents experienced low to moderate degrees of the menstrual syndrome. Resting, sleeping, and accepting the process as natural were common coping strategies, and health-seeking behaviour was poor. Recommendations: Periodic health education programmes should be encouraged to involve active coping behaviours such as regular aerobic exercises, muscle strengthening, and slow breathing exercises. Students should be encouraged to have positive health-seeking behaviour.