Cultural Perception of Pain and Methods Used in Coping with Pain During Menstruation İn Turkey

Authors : Meryem Türkan Işık, Rana Can Özdemir

Pages : 265-283

Doi:10.33708/ktc.1388329

View : 29 | Download : 20

Publication Date : 2024-05-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Menstruation is a natural process, and pain, an unpleasant symptom, negatively affects quality of life. The aim of this study is to determine women\'s cultural perception of pain during menstruation, traditional and complementary medicinal practices used to cope with the pain, and pain beliefs. This study has a cross-sectional design. The sample of the study consisted of 892 women For data collection a questionnaire created by the researchers after literature review and the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire were used. 71.9% of the participants used traditional methods to reduce menstrual pain. Factors that affected the pain beliefs score were education level, health insurance status, longest region of residence, frequency of pain during menstruation, using painkillers, using traditional methods and factors causing pain (p<0.05). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the total score on the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire, mean score of organic beliefs and psychological beliefs sub-dimensions (p<0.05). Women use traditional and complementary medicine practices more frequently than pharmacological practices in coping with menstrual pain. The Psychological Pain Belief scores of women who practiced traditional and complementary medicine to deal with menstrual pain were high and significant.
Keywords : adet ağrısı, kadın, kültür, geleneksel yöntemler, tamamlayıcı tıp