J Korean Community Nurs.  2001 Dec;12(3):773-784.

The Effect of Thermotherapy on High School Girls' Dysmenorrhea

• Kang IS
• Cho KJ

Abstract

The study was conducted to test the effectiveness of thermotherapy for high school girls who suffered from disruption in school activities through dysmenorrhea, and to study the extent of its availability in school infirmaries as one of the nursing methods. The test for the study was designed to make a contrast between half of the subjects (20) who did not receive the thermotherapy, and the rest (20) who did during the period from February 15th to April 14th, 2001. Measurements were taken of the subjects who complained of painful menstruation by a set of variables. The variables that were established and complemented by Hur, Mung-heang (1985) consist of 29 items that assess the dysmenorrhea and vitality through the symptoms of primary menstruation visually. Spsswin was used to analyze the data. The Cronbach-alpha method was used for statistic confidence, and the test effect of both the subjects and the contrary ones was analyzed by way of T-test. The conclusions are as follow. (1) The hypothesis 1 states that the subjects with themotherapy have a lower degree of dysmenorrhea rather than the contrary ones without it. By the above assessment, there was a quantitative difference between the subjects at 39.40, and the contrary ones at 22.0. After the themotherapy, the degree of dysmenorrhea in the subjects was low indicating that there is a still 5% chance of statistic meaningful difference (t= 2.651,P=.012). As a result, the first hypothesis was accepted. (2) The hypothesis 2 states that the subjects with themotherapy have a different primary menstruation than those without. Data indicate that there was a difference of -5.95 and -4.80. The subjects showed low degrees. Since it was statistically insignificant (t=-1.398, P=.170), the second hypothesis was rejected. (3) The hypothesis 3 states that the subjects with themotherapy have a different vitality. The vitality was measured in three aspects. pulse rate (/min) The hypothesis 3' states that the subjects with themotherapy have the different pulse rate from those without. Data indicate that there was no statistically meaningful difference between the two groups (t=.237 , P=. 814). Therefore, the third 1st hypothesis was rejected. Respiration rate The hypothesis 3" states that the subjects with themotherapy have a different respiration rate between pre-thermotherapy and postthermotherapy, in contrast with the ones without it. The data show that there was no statistically meaningful difference (t=.133, P=.895). A little respiration rate difference was shown between pre-and post-. Likewise, the third 2nd hypothesis was rejected. Blood pressure In the 3rd sub-hypothesis that there would be a difference between experimental and controlled groups was also rejected, because there was no statistically significant difference between the contracting blood pressure and the relaxing blood pressure. In terms of vitality, the pulse rate, respiration rate and blood pressure have no statistical meaning but the first two ones show the decreasing in the rate. In short, though exclusive studies focused on thermo therapy have not been conducted and the comparison can not be made, this study shows not only that the thermotherapy is very effective to dysmenorrhea, but also that it can be available in school infirmaries as one of the nursing methods.

MeSH Terms

Blood Pressure
Complement System Proteins
Dysmenorrhea*
Female
Heart Rate
Humans
Hyperthermia, Induced*
Menstruation
Nursing
Respiratory Rate
Complement System Proteins