The Effect of Emotional Freedom Technique on Premenstrual Syndrome

NCT ID: NCT05499000

Last Updated: 2024-04-01

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 51 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-09-01
• Study Completion Date: 2023-09-01

Brief Summary

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the Effect of Emotional Freedom Technique on Premenstrual Syndrome.

Methodology: The research will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial. The research will be carried out with students studying at the Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, İnönü University, between September and October 2022. The sample size of the study was calculated as 102 people with an effect size of 0.80 and a power of 0.95. Premenstrual syndrome scale will be applied to all students participating in the research first and those who score 110 and above will be listed. Experimental and control groups will be determined by randomization. Personal information form, subjective experience unit scale and premenstrual syndrome scale will be used to collect data.

SPSS 22.0 package program will be used in the evaluation of the data. The independent variable of the research is the emotional liberation technique. The dependent variable of the study is the mean scores of the participants from the subjective experience unit scale and premenstrual syndrome scale.

Detailed Description

Menstruation is an important process accompanied by physiological and psychological fluctuations covering a long part of a woman's life. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by cyclical repetition of physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms that start one week before menstruation, gradually increasing in severity, and end with menstruation [1-3]. Presence of at least one of six affective symptoms (anger outburst, depression, anxiety, confusion, irritability, and social withdrawal) and one of four somatic symptoms (abdominal swelling, headache, breast tenderness, and swelling in the extremities) according to the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). It states that if the symptoms disappear 4 days after the onset of the disease, and if it recurs cyclically, it meets the diagnostic criteria of PMS [4]. In studies conducted on PMS in various societies, its prevalence was determined to be in the range of 10-98% [5-8]. Although the etiology is not known exactly, the most common view is in the direction of serotonergic dysregulation. It is thought that the level of serotonin negatively affects the severity and intensity of PMS symptoms, and also triggers or exacerbates symptoms such as anxiety, appetite change and restlessness with the decrease in beta endorphin levels [9,10]. According to the severity level in PMS treatment; lifestyle changes (regular exercise, stress avoidance, regular sleep, etc.), combined oral contraceptives, serotonin selective inhibitors and cognitive behavioral therapies can be used [3, 11]. ACOG recommends using non-pharmacological treatments rather than pharmacological treatments for mild symptoms with psychological predominance [4].

Although it has a history of thousands of years in eastern cultures, it argues that the methods of energy psychology that we have encountered in the last 40 years in western societies and that psychological problems are related to disturbances in the energy fields of the body. According to energy psychology, people are physiological, emotional, mental and behavioral whole and in harmony. When the harmony is disturbed, psychological symptoms occur, and treatment is aimed by regulating the energy frequency by taking initiatives for this [12, 13]. In this context, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a psychophysiological method that provides easy and fast results to manage the normal energy flow on the energy body of the person [14, 15]. The main purpose of EFT is; It is to transform the negative energy frequency of the person into a positive one by clearing the negative emotions and thoughts that the person has subconsciously created or carried from the past by himself or environmental influences [14]. In the 1980s, thought field therapy, which was applied with strokes/touches to human meridian points with a complex algorithmic order, was simplified by Craig and started to apply with a single algorithmic order, thus EFT emerged [16, 17]. EFT is applied with strokes/touches as a somatic stimulus applied to meridian points, which includes stimulating the subconscious as in cognitive behavioral therapies, accepting a negative situation or emotion as in exposure therapy. It is frequently used in the treatment of psychological symptoms in current studies because it is easy to apply in opening the blockages in the energy body or converting the negative frequency to positive and has a quick result [18]. There are studies showing that EFT has positive effects on variables such as anxiety [14], phobias [15], posttraumatic stress disorder [16] and depression [17]. In the field of women's health, the effects of EFT studies on psychological development and cortisol levels in pregnant women with prenatal loss [18], fear of childbirth [19], dysmenorrhea [20] and postpartum depression [21] The results are extremely positive. In this context, it is thought that the research will contribute to the literature due to the insufficiency of studies examining the effect of EFT application on premenstrual syndrome.

Conditions

Premenstrual Syndrome; Emotional Problem

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Experimental group

Emotional freedom technique will be applied online with the researcher in 2 sessions, 3 days apart.

KBF, SUE, PMSS pre-tests will be applied before the intervention, SUE will be applied before and after each session, At the end of the second session, post-test data will be obtained with SUE, PMSS.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Emotional freedom technique

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Emotional freedom technique will be applied online with the researcher in 2 sessions, 3 days apart.

KBF, SUE, PMSS tests will be applied before the intervention, SUE will be applied before and after each session, At the end of the 2nd session, post-test data will be taken with SUE, PMSS.

Control group

KBF, SUE and PMSS pre-tests will be applied to the participants, SUE, PMSS and post-test data will be obtained simultaneously with the experimental group.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Emotional freedom technique

Emotional freedom technique will be applied online with the researcher in 2 sessions, 3 days apart.

KBF, SUE, PMSS tests will be applied before the intervention, SUE will be applied before and after each session, At the end of the 2nd session, post-test data will be taken with SUE, PMSS.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• To be between 18-25,
• Single,
• Not to use anything pharmacological or non-pharmacological during the research,
• Not having a diagnosed psychiatric disease such as epilepsy.

Exclusion Criteria

• Willingness to leave during research.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 25 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Inonu University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Sinem GUVEN Santur

Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Zeliha OZSAHİN, PhD

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

https://www.inonu.edu.tr/akademik/zeliha.ozsahin

Yeşim AKSOY DERYA, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

https://www.inonu.edu.tr/akademik/yesim.aksoy

Çiğdem KARAKAYALI AY, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

https://saglikbilimleri.ozal.edu.tr/?page_id=7732

Locations

Inonu University Faculty of Health Sciences

Malatya, , Turkey (Türkiye)

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Other Identifiers

Faculty of Health Science

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id