An Experimental Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Acupressure on Dysmenorrhea Pain among Adolescents in a Selected Colleges, Karnataka

Abstract

Dysmenorrhea, on the other hand, is pelvic or lower abdominal cyclic or recurrent pain, associated to menstruation. It is the most common gynaecological complaint among young women, with prevalence between 43% and 93%. According to symptoms intensity, it is also major cause for school or work absenteeism.The objectives of the study was to assess the level of dysmenorrhea pain in experimental and control group of adolescent girls, compare the pre and post-test scores within and between the experimental and control group, evaluate the effectiveness of acupressure on the level of dysmenorrhea pain in experimental and control group and to find out an association between the pre-test dysmenorrhea pain scores in both experimental and control group with their selected socio-demographic variables. The research design for the study was quasi experimental design with pretest-posttest having nonequivalent control group. The study was conducted in nursing colleges. Regarding effectiveness of acupressure, the overall median score of experimental group in the pre-test was 7.5 and 2 in the post test with enhancement of 4.81and it was significant at P<0.001% level and the overall median score of control group in the pre-test was 8 and 4.5 in the post with mild enhancement of 4.85 with the Z-value of 8.58 in Pre test and Z-value of 3.88 in post test, this shows that there was significant at P<0.001% level. Analysis of socio-demographic variables showed that there is no significant association at 5% level (P>0.05) both in experimental group and control group. The findings of this study support the need for nurses to conduct the experiment to decrease the level of dysmenorrhea pain of adolescent girls in selected nursing colleges a Bangalore. And had a remarkable decrease in the level of dysmenorrhea pain when compared to their level of dysmenorrhea pain, prior to the application of the acupressure