title: The experience of dysmenorrhoea among Ghanaian senior high and university students: pain characteristics and effects.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors: Department of Adult Health, School of Nursing, University of Ghana, P,O, Box LG 43, Legon, Accra, Ghana. aziatol@yahoo.com.
authors: Lydia
authors: L
authors: Aziato
authors: Florence
authors: F
authors: Dedey
authors: Joe Nat A
authors: JN
authors: Clegg-Lamptey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006261:Headache / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult