Document Type : Research articles

Authors

1 Department of Midwifery, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

2 Department of Educational Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

3 Department of Midwifery, Reproductive Health Promotion Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common psychosomatic disorders in reproductive-aged females and due to its less severe symptoms, administration of non-pharmacological interventions as the first-line is emphasized. Objectives: The current study aimed at examining the effect of mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy on PMS symptoms. Methods: The current randomized, controlled trial was performed on 40 students with PMS from Shahid Chamran University in Ahvaz, Iran in the academic year 2016 - 2017. Students were allocated into 2 groups (20 subjects in each) using simple random sam- pling method by the random number table. Students in the intervention group received eight 1-hour sessions of mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy weekly and the students in the control group received no intervention. The PMS symptoms were as- sessed using the daily symptom records (DSR) questionnaire, before, just after the completion of intervention, and one month later. Results: In the intervention group, the mean score of PMS symptoms immediately (27.65 ± 7.34) and one month after the comple- tion of the intervention (28.15 ± 7.13) showed a significant reduction, compared with the pre-intervention scores (42±9.09) using
the repeated measure test (P < 0.05). In the control group, the mean score of PMS symptoms immediately (40.05 ± 7.85) and one month after the intervention (40.15 ± 7.71), compared with that of the pre-intervention (40.25 ± 7.93) showed no significant changes in the control group (P > 0.05). Also, the symptoms of PMS significantly reduced in the intervention group in just after the inter- vention and the follow-up visit, compared with that of the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: According to the findings, mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy could reduce physical and behavioral symptoms of PMS in the studied students

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