A sample of 250 women participants, aged between 18 and 49 years who experienced regular menstrual periods, with a menstrual cycle length from 21 to 35 days, and had not been pregnant or lactating in the past 12 months, was recruited using two methods. The first method was an advertisement on the social media website Facebook (http://www.facebook.com ) asking for women who experienced PMS, to join a study on coping with premenstrual change. The advertising campaign targeted women in the relevant age group living in Australia. This recruitment approach resulted in responses from 204 women. The additional 95 women were undergraduate psychology students participating in research for course credit. The women were not required to meet formal diagnostic criteria for a premenstrual disorder (PMD) to be included in the study, as a sample with a wide range of premenstrual experiences was deemed desirable for the development of the coping scale.
Only women residing in Australia were recruited for the study, as a participant group living in the same commercial context was desired. Although the use of medications was listed in the item pool for the coping scale, Australia has no direct marketing of pharmaceuticals, including medications targeted at premenstrual distress, which is a factor to consider when examining ways of coping with premenstrual change across different contexts. Of the 299 surveys initiated, 260 were sufficiently completed to be included in the final analysis. Five of these were excluded because the women were outside the age group or living overseas. An additional five were excluded because the women reported having no premenstrual changes.
Two measures were used to assess the participants’ experience of premenstrual change. The Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) [45 (link)], which is a retrospective measure matching symptoms and impairment criteria for PMDD from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [46 ] and a one-item scale asking: “To what extent do you find your PMS distressing?” which is a measure that has been developed and used in previous research in the field of PMS [6 (link),20 (link)]. The rationale for using the PSST in this study was that it served to identify whether the women were experiencing any negative premenstrual changes. This measure was not used as a diagnostic tool for PMD but served to demonstrate that all women included in the study experienced at least one negative premenstrual change. This measure also helped to describe the sample in terms of the prevalence of PMD.
The recruitment procedure redirected potential participants to the study’s participant information screen, via a paid advertisement on the social media website, or via university websites. Participants indicated consent and willingness to participate by clicking to begin the survey. Participants completed an anonymous 30 minute online survey administered through the commercial survey website, Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com ). The survey consisted of some initial questions regarding demographic information followed by self-report measures for premenstrual change and premenstrual coping. The research protocol was approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee.
Only women residing in Australia were recruited for the study, as a participant group living in the same commercial context was desired. Although the use of medications was listed in the item pool for the coping scale, Australia has no direct marketing of pharmaceuticals, including medications targeted at premenstrual distress, which is a factor to consider when examining ways of coping with premenstrual change across different contexts. Of the 299 surveys initiated, 260 were sufficiently completed to be included in the final analysis. Five of these were excluded because the women were outside the age group or living overseas. An additional five were excluded because the women reported having no premenstrual changes.
Two measures were used to assess the participants’ experience of premenstrual change. The Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) [45 (link)], which is a retrospective measure matching symptoms and impairment criteria for PMDD from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [46 ] and a one-item scale asking: “To what extent do you find your PMS distressing?” which is a measure that has been developed and used in previous research in the field of PMS [6 (link),20 (link)]. The rationale for using the PSST in this study was that it served to identify whether the women were experiencing any negative premenstrual changes. This measure was not used as a diagnostic tool for PMD but served to demonstrate that all women included in the study experienced at least one negative premenstrual change. This measure also helped to describe the sample in terms of the prevalence of PMD.
The recruitment procedure redirected potential participants to the study’s participant information screen, via a paid advertisement on the social media website, or via university websites. Participants indicated consent and willingness to participate by clicking to begin the survey. Participants completed an anonymous 30 minute online survey administered through the commercial survey website, Survey Monkey (
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