Premenstrual symptom clusters and women's coping style in Korea: happy healthy 20s application study

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to identify premenstrual symptom clusters; and to explore the differences in and effectiveness of coping strategies among symptom cluster groups.Methods: Using the happy healthy 20s smartphone application, 349 women with premenstrual symptoms participated in the study. Premenstrual symptoms and health outcomes such as perceived health, depressive feelings, quality of life, suicidal ideation/attempts and coping strategies were explored. Factor analysis and silhouette analysis were used to identify premenstrual symptom clusters. Analysis of variance was used to explore the differences among symptom clusters in health outcomes and coping strategies.Results: Three premenstrual symptom clusters were identified: general discomfort, negative affect and turmoil. Three symptom cluster groups experienced different health outcomes in perceived health, depressive feelings, quality of life and suicidal ideation. However, few differences were noted in participants' engagement in coping strategies, frequencies and perceived effectiveness among women with different symptom clusters.Discussion: Findings of this study support previous reports that women do not receive tailored care for their premenstrual symptoms. Learning about the symptom structure, women's ways of coping, and perceived effectiveness is important in identifying the issues in current premenstrual symptoms management and providing tailored care.