Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Pre-menopause in women presents with diverse symptoms, encompassing the tri-dimensional spheres of physical, social and psychological domains, which requires development of appropriate coping strategies to overcome these problems. AIM: To assess level of knowledge about tri-dimensional problems in pre-menopausal women and evaluate effectiveness of self instruction module on coping strategies of these problems by pre-test and post-test analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional, community based study, in pre-menopausal women aged 40-49years baseline knowledge of tridimensional problems was assessed in 300 pre-menopausal women, selected by convenient sampling after satisfying selection criteria, by a pre-formed questionnaire. This was followed by administration of a pre-tested, Self-Instructional Module (SIM). The SIM dealt with imparting knowledge about coping strategies regarding pre-menopausal problems and the participants were required to read and retain the SIM. Post-test was conducted using same questionnaire after seven days. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Chi-square test/ Paired t-test was used for comparing ratios. A 'p-value' <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Baseline knowledge of tridimensional problems was adequate in 10%, moderate in 73% and inadequate in 17% women with a pre-test mean knowledge score of 8.66±2.45. The post-test mean knowledge score was higher (19.11±3.38) compared to the pre-test score. The post-test mean knowledge difference from pre-test was -10.45 with a highly significant paired t-value of -47.45 indicating that the self-instructional module was effective in increasing the knowledge score of pre- menopausal women under study. CONCLUSION: Administration of self instructional module was shown to significantly increase the knowledge scores in all areas of pre-menopausal tri-dimensional problems. Such self-instructional module can be used as an effective educational tool in increasing the knowledge of tri-dimensional problems in premenopausal women.