{"title":"Help-seeking behaviour in dysmenorrhoea: A cross-sectional exploration using the Behavioural Model of Health Services Use.","authors":"Sophie C Matheson, Hannah Durand","doi":"10.1177/17455057241273588","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Dysmenorrhoea, or period pain, is a prevalent gynaecological condition that can result in functional interference during menstruation. Despite the significant disruption dysmenorrhoea can have on functioning and well-being, medical help-seeking rates are low. Little is known about what factors may predict help-seeking for dysmenorrhoea.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The current study aimed to test the predictive validity of the Behavioural Model of Health Services Use (BMHSU) for help-seeking behaviour in dysmenorrhoea, whereby help-seeking behaviour was operationalised as having attended to a healthcare professional for dysmenorrhoea-related care.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A cross-sectional observational design was used.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants (<i>N</i> = 439) completed an online survey, which measured the following eight predictor variables: menstrual pain characteristics, health beliefs, self-efficacy, social support utilisation and satisfaction, perceived healthcare availability, and pain intensity and interference. Participants were also asked to report whether they had ever attended to a healthcare professional for their menstrual pain.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The BMHSU accounted for 8% of the variance in help-seeking behaviour. Pain interference and appointment availability were significant predictors of the variance in past help-seeking behaviour, such that those who experienced greater pain interference, and those who perceived greater availability of healthcare appointments were less likely to have visited a healthcare professional for their menstrual pain. The BMHSU had an overall 69% classification accuracy in predicting help-seeking behaviour.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Although the BMHSU demonstrated reasonably good model fit, it does not appear to be a particularly robust model for predicting help-seeking behaviour for dysmenorrhoea. Future research should explore whether a refined BMHSU or an alternative theoretical model can provide more useful insight into this behaviour. Better understanding of the determinants of help-seeking behaviour will enable the development of interventions to promote appropriate help-seeking and improve health outcomes for individuals with menstrual pain.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"20 ","pages":"17455057241273588"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11339737/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Women's health (London, England)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057241273588","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Dysmenorrhoea, or period pain, is a prevalent gynaecological condition that can result in functional interference during menstruation. Despite the significant disruption dysmenorrhoea can have on functioning and well-being, medical help-seeking rates are low. Little is known about what factors may predict help-seeking for dysmenorrhoea.
Objectives: The current study aimed to test the predictive validity of the Behavioural Model of Health Services Use (BMHSU) for help-seeking behaviour in dysmenorrhoea, whereby help-seeking behaviour was operationalised as having attended to a healthcare professional for dysmenorrhoea-related care.
Design: A cross-sectional observational design was used.
Methods: Participants (N = 439) completed an online survey, which measured the following eight predictor variables: menstrual pain characteristics, health beliefs, self-efficacy, social support utilisation and satisfaction, perceived healthcare availability, and pain intensity and interference. Participants were also asked to report whether they had ever attended to a healthcare professional for their menstrual pain.
Results: The BMHSU accounted for 8% of the variance in help-seeking behaviour. Pain interference and appointment availability were significant predictors of the variance in past help-seeking behaviour, such that those who experienced greater pain interference, and those who perceived greater availability of healthcare appointments were less likely to have visited a healthcare professional for their menstrual pain. The BMHSU had an overall 69% classification accuracy in predicting help-seeking behaviour.
Conclusion: Although the BMHSU demonstrated reasonably good model fit, it does not appear to be a particularly robust model for predicting help-seeking behaviour for dysmenorrhoea. Future research should explore whether a refined BMHSU or an alternative theoretical model can provide more useful insight into this behaviour. Better understanding of the determinants of help-seeking behaviour will enable the development of interventions to promote appropriate help-seeking and improve health outcomes for individuals with menstrual pain.