Music and Premenstrual Symptoms and Quality of Life

Primary outcomes

1. Symptoms of premenstrual syndrome to reduce (PMSS) with music therapy

   Time frame: 14 days before application

   The female students who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. They were randomly assigned to the music (Group 1) and control (Group 2) groups. Before starting the application, participants were asked to fill out, the The Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PMSS). Music group: The students listened to the playlists created specifically for each participant by an expert researcher who had received music therapy training after determining the music genres they liked during a menstrual cycle (14 days before the start of the cycle) 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time.

2. Quality of life increase with music therapy

   Time frame: 14 days before application

   The female students who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. They were randomly assigned to the music (Group 1) and control (Group 2) groups. Before starting the application, participants were asked to fill out, the The Short form of the WHOQOL-BREF (the WHOQOL-BREF). Music group: The students listened to the playlists created specifically for each participant by an expert researcher who had received music therapy training after determining the music genres they liked during a menstrual cycle (14 days before the start of the cycle) 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time.

3. Symptoms of premenstrual syndrome to reduce (PMSS)

   Time frame: 3 months

   The participants who did not state their music preference were played classical music, a music genre expected to be effective in reducing their pain and anxiety. Since the control group consisted of people who did not make any application to reduce PMSS, no application was made to this. After the application, the experimental and control groups filled with the PMSS again.

4. Quality of life increase

   Time frame: 3 months

   The participants who did not state their music preference were played classical music, a music genre expected to be effective in reducing their pain and anxiety. Since the control group consisted of people who did not make any application to reduce PMSS, no application was made to this. After the application, the experimental and control groups filled with the WHOQOL-BREF again.

5. The Student Information Form

   Time frame: 1 month

   This form consists of 25 items questioning the woman's socio-demographic characteristics (age, height, weight, living region, family type, income status), information about her menstrual cycle, duration of her first menstruation, her age at the first menstruation (menarche), presence of chronic disease, menstrual symptoms, presence of a gynecologic disease, exercise status, and music preferences

6. The Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PMSS)

   Time frame: 3 months

   The PMSS was developed by Gençdoğan et al. (2006) to asses premenstrual symptom complaints (Gençdoğan et al., 2006). The scale is a 5-point Likert type and it consists of 44 items.The scale has nine subscales including depressive affection, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, depressive thoughts, pain, changes in appetite, sleep changes, and swelling. The premenstrual syndrome scale is administered by evaluating retrospectively, in other words, the week before the menstruation is taken into account. The overall premenstrual syndrome scale score is the sum of the scores of the nine subscales.The minimum and maximum possible scores to be obtained from this easily self-administered PMSS are 44 and 220 respectively. While the score of 44 points means no PMS, points between 45 and 103 indicate mild PMS, points between 104 and 163 indicate moderate PMS, and points between 164 and 220 severe PMS (Gençdoğan et al., 2006).

7. Short form of the WHOQOL-BREF

   Time frame: 3 months

   The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the WHOQOL-100 scale (Whoqol et al., 1998). The validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the WHOQOL-BREF was performed by Eser (Eser et al., 1998). The WHOQOL-BREF consists of four domains, namely physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. Responses given to the items are rated on a 5-point Likert type scale. The questions are answered by considering the last 15 days. The WHOQOL-BREF doesn't have a total score. The score of each domain indicates the level of quality of life for that domain. The higher the score is the better the quality of life is. The first two questions of the scale are not included in the scoring and are evaluated separately. The 3rd, 4th, and 26th questions in the scale are negatively keyed expressions (Whoqol et al., 1998; Skevington et al., 2004). While the original scale has 26 items, the Turkish version has 27 items.