Living Experience and Self-Care Strategies in Young College Going Females with Dysmenorrhea: A Qualitative Study

Prevalence of dysmenorrhea is reported to be 70.2% in India. So, it is crucial to understand the experience of females living with dysmenorrhea and the role of physiotherapy in improving the condition. This study aims to explore the experience of young females with dysmenorrhea, its impact on academics, their attitude toward society, and self-care strategies. 10 young dysmenorrheic participants were selected through the physical survey of the WALLID score scale. An interview guide with 12 open-ended questions was formulated after a thorough review of the literature which was later validated by a group of multidisciplinary experts. Participants were audio-video interviewed using the interview guide, then the interviews were transcribed verbatim and entered into QDA miner lite software for qualitative analysis. Codes and themes were identified, and code trees and word clouds were obtained. 10 principal themes and 38 codes were identified: onset of pain, symptoms and its nature, hampering academics, hindrance in the activity of daily living, relation with friends and family, the attitude of society and taboo, self-care strategies, barriers in social integration, approaches for pain management, obstacles and suggestions. Study findings uncovers that most young females experience absenteeism in academics as they cannot cope up with pain and the university hygiene which also hampers their activities of daily living. Majority of them experience negative attitude of the society towards their problem and also college facilities. Most females prefer home remedies over drugs and are unaware of the benefits of physiotherapy in dysmenorrhea. They also anticipate some changes to ease their management in college areas as in washroom’s hygiene and cleanliness. Results show that most of the participants prefer non-pharmaceutical approaches and prefer to stay indoors in order to manage their pain which raises the lack of awareness of physiotherapy management.

据报道，印度痛经（dysmenorrhea）的患病率为70.2%。因此，深入了解痛经女性的患病体验，以及物理治疗（physiotherapy）对改善病情的作用，具有重要意义。本研究旨在探讨青年痛经女性的患病体验、痛经对其学业的影响、其对社会的态度，以及自我护理策略。本研究通过WALLID评分量表的线下调研，招募了10名青年痛经女性作为研究对象。研究人员在全面梳理文献后，编制了包含12道开放式问题的访谈提纲，随后经多学科专家团队进行效度检验。研究人员采用该访谈提纲对参与者进行音视频访谈，之后将访谈内容逐字转录，并导入QDA Miner Lite软件开展质性分析。研究人员对转录内容进行编码与主题提炼，生成编码树与词云图。最终共提炼出10个核心主题与38个编码，分别为：疼痛发作情况、症状表现与性质、对学业的影响、日常生活活动受限、与亲友的关系、社会对该问题的态度与污名化、自我护理策略、社会融入障碍、疼痛管理方法、现存困境与改进建议。研究结果显示，多数青年痛经女性因无法耐受疼痛，以及高校卫生条件不佳，出现学业缺勤情况，这同时也限制了她们的日常生活活动。多数参与者感受到社会对其痛经问题持负面态度，同时也对高校设施存在负面评价。多数女性更倾向于采用家庭疗法而非药物治疗，且对物理治疗在痛经管理中的益处一无所知。此外，她们期待高校能做出相关改进，例如改善卫生间的卫生状况，以缓解她们在校园内的护理困境。研究结果表明，多数参与者偏好采用非药物手段缓解疼痛，且倾向于居家休养以控制症状，这反映出她们对物理治疗干预手段的认知不足。