The effect of resilient counseling on the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome among adolescent girls in Hamadan, Iran, 2018: A clinical trial

Abstract

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common causes of poor performance in girls and women. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of group resilience counseling on PMS severity in adolescent girls. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 120 high school girls in Hamadan, Iran. Participants were recruited conveniently and randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 60) and a control group (n = 60). The intervention group participated in eight 1-h resilience counseling sessions, whereas the control group received no intervention. Data were collected using a demographic characteristics form, the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The primary and secondary outcome measures were PMS severity and resilience score. The independent samples and paired samples t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Most of the participants in the intervention and control groups had severe PMS symptoms at baseline (61.7% and 63.3%, respectively). However, after the intervention, the majority of the intervention group reported mild (36.7%) or moderate (46.4%) symptoms (P < 0.001). No significant changes occurred in the control group. The mean total resilience score in the intervention group increased from 50.5 ± 14.9 to 67.3 ± 15.2 (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Resilience counseling for girls with PMS can reduce the severity of PMS.