The experience of dysmenorrhoea among Ghanaian senior high and university students: pain characteristics and effects

BACKGROUND: Dysmenorrhoea is a common problem of women at the reproductive age and may have negative effect on the education of females at various stages on the educational ladder. CONTEXT AND PURPOSE: This study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the experience of dysmenorrhoea and its effect on female students in a secondary and a tertiary institution in Accra, Ghana. METHODS: The study employed a descriptive phenomenology design and was conducted at a University and a Senior High School (SHS) in Accra. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit participants and data was saturated with 16 participants. Concurrent analysis was done by applying the processes of content analysis and the NVivo software was used to manage the data. RESULTS: It was realized that dysmenorrhoea is associated with symptoms such as diarrhoea, headache and vomiting. Pain may start one week to the day of menstruation and the severity differed across the days of menstruation. The effect of dysmenorrhoea included activity intolerance, altered emotion and interaction, altered sleep pattern, absenteeism and inattentiveness, wishes and regrets, and misconceptions. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that severe dysmenorrhoea has a debilitating effect on female students and is associated with misconceptions that could result in drastic action with fatal consequences. Thus, there is the need to enhance education on dysmenorrhoea, and an aggressive step should be taken to effectively manage dysmenorrhoea.