The effectiveness of an educational intervention on proper analgesic use for dysmenorrhea

Primary dysmenorrhea is a common gynecologic disorder, but is often inappropriately managed due to ignorance and misunderstanding of its pharmacotherapy in many young women. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention on proper analgesic use for dysmenorrhea among Korean female university students.

In March 2008, an educational intervention, a 10-min lecture using supplementary educational printed materials, was given to the intervention group (n=98). Two months later, changes and differences in knowledge, actual medication behavior, coping strategies, dysmenorrhea severity (VAS score), and Korean health-related quality of life (KQOLS) were assessed between the intervention and control (n=105) groups.

The prevalence of dysmenorrhea in the intervention and control groups was 75.1% and 77.1%, respectively. After the educational intervention, the medication rate of the intervention group was significantly increased (from 36.1% to 51.0%, P=0.007), and the knowledge of and actual behavior relating to the proper analgesic use were also significantly improved in this group. The VAS scores were significantly decreased among participants with dysmenorrhea in the intervention group (from 48.6 ± 22.0 to 37.8 ± 22.5, P<0.001). In addition, significant improvements in two domains of the KQOLS, physical function (from 89.3 ± 11.1 to 93.1 ± 8.8, P=0.007) and pain (from 80.4 ± 19.9 to 87.4 ± 14.3, P=0.001), were observed in the intervention group.

The findings of this prospective study suggest that a brief educational intervention can improve the severity of dysmenorrhea and the quality of life by enhancing medication knowledge and actual analgesic behavior in Korean female university students.