Does evidence-based nursing management reduce PMS severity?

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a com¬mon cause of substantial psychological and physical distress for women during their reproductive years. Forty percent of women have symptoms that are severe enough to disrupt some aspect of their daily lives, 5% are inca¬pacitated by their symptoms. Despite the magnitude of this problem, a lot of confusion exists in medical and lay communities alike about what is and is not effective for treatment of PMS. The study aimed assessing premenstrual symptoms, self care practices among women at reproductive age attending Maternal and Child Health (MCH) centers in Menoufia governorate, Egypt and Hodidha governorate, Yemen and evaluate the effect of evidence-based nursing management on severity of premenstrual syndrome among them. Subjects and methods: A quasi experimental study was used. Subjects consisted of 2000 clients (1000 Hodidha clients and 1000 Menoufia clients). Structured Interviewing questionnaire, tool about assessment of premenstrual symptoms severity and pre – post knowledge test were used. Results: there was statistically significant differences in the severity of premenstrual symptoms before and after administration of evidence based nursing management for 3 months (3menstrual cycles). Conclusion: clients experience decrease severity of premenstrual syndrome after administration of evidence based nursing management for 3 months (3 menstrual cycle). Recommendation: Effective evidence based program about premenstrual syndrome, care of gynecological problems should be included into educational program of maternal and child health (MCH) centers in rural Menoufia governorate, Egypt and Hodidha governorate, Yemen. More research is needed to expand the evidence base on effective interventions for premenstrual syndrome and to translate knowledge into practices. Future studies are needed to be performed about prevalence, consequences, and management methods of premenstrual syndrome in different settings in Egypt and Yemen and other Arabic countries.

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