Complementary and alternative treatment methods used to deal with dysmenorrhea

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine what supplementary and alternative treatment methods are to deal with dysmenorrhea and study its relationship with dysmenorrhea. The research was performed on 250 women aged between 15-49 applied to Ege University Medicine Faculty Hospital Polyclinics of Gynecology and Obstetrics between June 15-October 31, 2015 with dysmenorrhea complaint during their menstruation period. The research data were collected by the researcher with a question form comprised of 44 questions that was prepared based on the literature. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used in the analysis of the data. It was found out that the average age of the women with dysmenorrhea was 30,44±7,90; the majority of them got information regarding the menstruation period (81,2%) and they were mostly informed by their mothers (53,2%). It was seen that women mostly underwent dysmenorrhea in every menstrual period (45,2%), moderate (36,8%) and on the first day of the menstruation period; in addition it was also determined that dysmenorrhea was experienced by the sisters (44,8%) of these women in question. It was established that dysmenorrhea affects many women's daily life in the study (69,2%), they mostly prefer CAT method to cope with it (78,8%) and more women believe in CAT method (46,4%). Of the CAT methods, women more particularly have been found to use camomile tea (42,8%), massage (63,6%) and hot application to abdomen (52,8%). CAT use was discovered significantly high in women whose education level is superior (X2=48,698; p=0,024), age is between 25-34 ( X2=11,237; p=0,033), who do not work in an income generating job (x2=10,563; p=0,037) and who believe in CAT methods (X2= 8,319;p=0,012). In addition to these, CAT use was identified to be higher in women who experience painful menstrual period (X2=15,882; p=0,011), whose dysmenorrhea lasts for 24 hours after their menstrual period starts (X2=40,337;P=0,038) and who do not use any medicine to deal with dysmenorrhea (X2=6,981;P=0,043). As a result, CAT methods are widely utilised by women undergoing dysmenorrhea. More research is needed regarding CAT methods to cope with dysmenorrhea, their efficiency and reliability. Nurses and other health professionals must have adequate information by doing research on this issue and inform women suffering from this condition by evaluating CAT methods in a productive way. Key Words: dysmenorrhea, complementary treatments, alternative treatment, nursing