Management practices and health and economic outcomes among women with dysmenorrhea in Casiguran, Sorsogon

• Main Author: Medina, Ma. Donna Renee S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Dysmenorrhea; Women employees—Health and hygiene—Philippines—Sorsogon; Gender and Sexuality; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Work, Economy and Organizations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6972
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study described the management practices of dysmenorrhea among women in their reproductive age years in Casiguran, Sorsogon. It also sought to determine its association with women’s perception on menstruation, dysmenorrhea, and its management as well as their knowledge on the two reproductive health conditions. Furthermore, the study examined the association between the management of dysmenorrhea and the health and economic outcomes that they experienced. This quantitative-explanatory study involved 100 women aged 18 to 49 years old. This study argues that following the Theory of Planned Behavior, a woman’s intention to manage her dysmenorrhea could be understood and predicted based on one’s perception on the situation that can be socially influenced. The data collection tool used was self-administered questionnaire. Findings of the study revealed that most of the respondents are in their younger adult years – 71 are aged 25 to 29 years old, and their average age is 30 years. A great majority (67%) have low level of education. A great majority are jobless (60%) while many (37%) have white collar jobs and very few (3%) have blue collar jobs. The results showed that overall, the respondents have a positive understanding about menstruation as evidenced by the high mean they obtained (3.31); they tend to show favorable understanding of dysmenorrhea as evidenced by the overall moderate mean score of 2.61; and they show positive disposition regarding the different type of management of dysmenorrhea as evidenced by the overall mean score of 2.50. Both knowledge on menstruation and dysmenorrhea revealed a high score. For the management of dysmenorrhea, the results of the survey showed that complementary and alternative management (63) obtained a high score followed by self-care (60) and lastly, medical management (14). Statistical tests reveal that only knowledge on dysmenorrhea has a significant relationship with self-care management and medical management. It showed positive-association between perceptions about management with self-care as well as between perception about dysmenorrhea with complementary and alternative. The study concludes that management of dysmenorrhea has a positive-significant association with their number of diseases and their economic outcomes. This implies that a change in a woman’s access specifically to medical interventions significantly influences her health condition however, variation in terms of the economic impacts of dysmenorrhea is expected when comparing women in terms of their management.