The effect of mindfulness-based psychoeducation on automatic thinking, pain beliefs, and pain coping of nursing students with dysmenorrhea: A quasi-experimental study

Aim: Dysmenorrhea has a high prevalence among university students and affects important aspects of daily activity, psychological health, quality of life, and academic performance. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of mindfulness-based psychoeducation program on automatic thinking, pain beliefs and coping of nursing students with dysmenorrhea.
Material and methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study using a nonrandomized control group pretest and posttest design. The study included 72 nursing students with primary dysmenorrhea. The experimental group received psychoeducation for 75 minutes per week for nine sessions. Data were collected using the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, Pain Beliefs Questionnaire, and Pain Coping Inventory.
Results: The automatic thinking, organic pain beliefs, and passive pain coping total scores in the experimental group significantly decreased after program compared with those in the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, there was a significant increase in psychological pain beliefs and active pain coping total scores in the experimental group (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: These findings indicate that the program was effective in addressing automatic thinking, pain beliefs and coping of nursing students with dysmenorrhea. The mindfulness-based psychoeducation program can be easily applied to students suffering from dysmenorrhea.