Does guided imagery reduce premenstrual syndrome symptoms?

Background: Premenstrual symptoms are the cycle changes that a woman perceives as troublesome or problematic which escalate before menstruation. Imagery had been found to be very effective for the treatment of stress. Imagery is at the center of relaxation techniques designed to release brain chemicals that act as your body's natural brain tranquilizers, lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety levels. Hence the researcher felt the need to find the effectiveness of guided imagery technique in alleviating premenstrual syndrome among first year B.Sc. nursing students. Objectives: This study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of guided imagery technique in alleviation of premenstrual syndrome among first year B.Sc. nursing students. Methodology: The research approach adopted for this study was quantitative approach. The research design adopted for this study was pre experimental one group pre-test and post - test design. The purposive sampling was used to select the sample for the study. The sample consists of the sixty first year nursing students in selected nursing colleges. The Instrument used for the data collection was premenstrual syndrome assessment scale. Results: In the pre test level on premenstrual syndrome Mean Score was 95.8, SD 6.79 and Mean percentage 75.6%, post test Mean is 69, SD 4.12 and Mean percentage 55.2%, the percentage mean effectiveness was 21.4%. The ‘t’ value was 50, shows that there is a reduction of premenstrual symptoms after the guided imagery technique. Conclusion and Recommendation: Special health education campaign related to the alleviation of premenstrual syndrome creates awareness, reduces morbidity rate. The present study proved that guided imagery technique was effective among the first year nursing students in alleviation of premenstrual syndrome.

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