The effectiveness of mindfulness training (presence awareness) on dysfunctional attitude and anxiety in women with premenstrual syndrome

Improving the psychological characteristics of women with premenstrual syndrome can improve the level of psychosocial health. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness training on dysfunctional attitude and anxiety in women with premenstrual syndrome. The research method was experimental with pre-test and post-test design with unequal control group. The statistical population of the present study was 200 women with premenstrual syndrome referred to gynecologists in clinics and hospitals of Malayer in 2018, of whom 40 were available using non-random sampling method. Were selected as the sample group and simple random sampling method for the alternative group. To measure the variables, the dysfunctional attitude questionnaire (Weisman and Beck, 1978; quoted by Shokri et al., 2015), the anxiety questionnaire (Beck and Esther, 1988; quoted by Kaviani and Mousavi, 2008) were used. Data were analyzed using one-way and multi-way analysis of covariance. The results of this study showed that mindfulness training is effective in reducing the feeling of anxiety in women with premenstrual syndrome. But it had no significant effect on dysfunctional attitudes in women with premenstrual syndrome. According to the research findings, it is concluded that mindfulness training has an important role in reducing anxiety in women with premenstrual syndrome.