Dysmenorrhea among hospital nurses and it's effect on work life

The study was carried out as a descriptive and cross-sectional study to find out the frequency of dysmenorrhea among hospital nurses, and how it effects the nurses' work life. The study was conducted in four hospitals that subordinate to Bolu Provincial Health Directorate. The universe of the study consisted of 818 nurses and the sample was 574 nurses. The data of the study was collected using the Introductory Information Form and Visual Analog Scale. In the evaluation of the data, number, percentage, mean, t test, Mann Whitney U test, ki-square test and regression analysis were used. As a result of the research; 66.9% of the nurses participating in the study experienced dysmenorrhea. The mean severity of dysmenorrhea was found to be 5.72 ± 1.96. 67.4% of the participants had moderate dysmenorrhea and 18.7% had severe dysmenorrhea. The most common symptoms of dysmenorrhea were low back pain (84.8%), fatigue (77.6%) and abdominal pain (76.1%). It was determined that 71.3% of nurses benefited from non-pharmacological methods and 44.6% of them used medication in coping with dysmenorrhea. It was found that dysmenorrhea increased the living status by dysmenorrhea in the family by 3.7 times (OR=3.727, p<0.05) and by gynecological diagnosis by 1.8 times (OR=1.791, p<0.05). Because of dysmenorrhea, 84.5% of nurses think that job performance decrease, 81.8% job satisfaction and 70.6% service quality are affected. It was seen that 9.7% of the nurses used report / leave due to dysmenorrhea in the last year. It was determined that according to the severity of dysmenorrhea, job satisfaction, job performance, service quality, communication problems with teammates, patient and patient relatives, permission / report usage and legal permission usage differed (p <0.05). It was found that the severity of dysmenorrhea was 2.7 times (OR=2.651, p<0.05) higher than those who were affected by dysmenorrhea and 1.8 times higher than those who did not request legal permission (OR=1.831, p<0.05). Key words: Nurse, dysmenorrhea, menstrual disorders, working life