Comparing dysmenorrhea beliefs and self‐management techniques across symptom‐based phenotypes

Abstract

Objectives: To compare beliefs about dysmenorrhea and self-management techniques across three dysmenorrhea symptom-based phenotypes. Background: Many reproductive-age women experience dysmenorrhea, with varying symptoms and intensity. Dysmenorrhea symptom-based phenotypes have been identified in previous research, defining distinctive phenotypes of mild localised pain, severe localised pain, and multiple severe symptoms. It is unknown if women from different phenotypes hold different beliefs about dysmenorrhea or if they engage in different self-management techniques. Design: Quantitative secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data. Methods: This online study surveyed 762 women with dysmenorrhea in the United States. Participants reported their dysmenorrhea symptom intensity, beliefs about dysmenorrhea (i.e. beliefs about consequences, timeline, controllability, symptom severity, normalcy, emotional response to symptoms and treatments) and self-management techniques to prevent or treat symptoms. Beliefs regarding dysmenorrhea and types of self-management techniques used were compared across three phenotypes utilising ANOVA tests and Tukey's HSD for pairwise comparisons. Reporting followed the STROBE guidelines.Results: Women with multiple severe symptoms had significantly more negative beliefs regarding dysmenorrhea and utilised significantly more self-management techniques than women with severe localised pain and women with mild localised pain.Women with severe localised pain had significantly more negative beliefs regarding dysmenorrhea and utilised significantly more self-management techniques than women with mild localised pain. Negative beliefs regarding dysmenorrhea included: consequences of dysmenorrhea, timeline of symptoms, personal and treatment control, symptom severity, normalcy of symptoms, emotional response to symptoms and willingness to utilise complementary medicine. Conclusion:Results further support the distinction between dysmenorrhea symptombased phenotypes. Not only do women in different phenotypes experience different severity and number of dysmenorrhea symptoms, they also perceive and manage their dysmenorrhea differently. Relevance to Clinical Practice: These findings have implications for tailoring interventions to different dysmenorrhea symptom-based phenotypes.

Dysmenorrhea across the lifespan: a biopsychosocial perspective to understanding the dysmenorrhea trajectory and association with comorbid pain experiences

“…61 Negative beliefs about dysmenorrhea (eg, that it will last until menopause) have been associated with greater dysmenorrhea severity. 115 Similarly, perceived injustice has been associated with menstrual pain interference, but not intensity, in adults. 153…”

The Treatment of Dysmenorrhea Among Adolescent Females

“…(Altangarvdi et al, 2019). The doctor should detect menstrual abnormality as soon as possible to prevent the remaining effects and symptoms and to tell accurate health information (Sarah K. Rogers et al, 2018).…”

Period Pain Presenteeism: Investigating Associations of Working While Experiencing Dysmenorrhea

“…Menstrual pain, particularly abdominal pain, is a crucial driver of presenteeism in terms of productivity loss (Schoep et al, 2019), and clinical trials for the treatment of secondary dysmenorrhea show that when the pain is reduced by medical treatment, both presenteeism and absenteeism decline (Pokrzywinski et al, 2020). As there are great differences in how people experience dysmenorrhea and menstruation (Chen et al, 2018;Rogers et al, 2021;Weisberg et al, 2016), a differentiated view seems necessary. We thus hypothesize: H1: The perceived severity of period pain is positively associated with period pain presenteeism.…”

“…An increase in flexibility due to remote work could improve access to pain medication, for example, due to the availability of the medication in one's medicine cabinet or the possibility of purchasing the medication at a pharmacy without the necessity of having to explain the absence at the workplace to colleagues or supervisors. Additionally, working from home would also lower potential social stress to conceal one's menstruation and menstrual symptoms and facilitate other self-management strategies, including relaxation techniques, heat, acupressure, specific types of exercise (yoga), and specific diets (Armour et al, 2019;Rogers et al, 2021). These self-management strategies may be easier to carry out when working from home, thus potentially leading to reduced or alleviated symptoms and, thus, lower presenteeism (due to the absence of symptoms).…”