2024, Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part A

Background: Menstruation is a normal physiological impact in each girl’s life. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common serious problem characterized by a set of physical, cognitive, affective and behavioral symptoms that occur cyclically during luteal phase of menstrual cycle and resolve quickly with in few days of onset of menstruation. Some degrees of premenstrual problems are experienced especially in the initial years of reproductive life. PMS may cause some women to become more violent and prone to committing crimes like Assault and Suicide. So, PMS affects not only women but also families and societies. Fruits have been recognized as a good source of vitamins and minerals. Some fruits like ‘Banana’s’ offer a great medical benefits, one of the benefits of banana is to decrease the PMS. The present study is conducted with an aim to assess the impact of banana consumption on Premenstrual syndrome among the females in reproductive age group in a selected college of nursing at Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.

Methodology: A descriptive survey and quasi-experimental study with non-equivalent control group designs are used. One hundred and thirty three females are screened during the month of June-2018. By using purposive sampling technique a sum of 60 females are selected as sample, out of which 30 females are in experimental group and 30 females are in control group. Structured questionnaire and a rating scale are used to collect the data. A pre-test is conducted to the subjects of experimental group and control group before providing the banana. In addition to the routine diet, daily 100 grams of banana is provided to the subjects of experimental group for the period of 3 months i.e., January, February and March 2019. The females of control group had no intervention and they are on their routine diet. Monthly post-test is conducted. The collected data are analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The prevalence of PMS is reported to be 50.37% in the present study. The calculated paired ‘t’ values after the first, second and third month consumption of banana (t= 6.37, 8.32, 7.84 respectively) are greater than the table value (2.05). This means that there is a reduction in the PMS symptoms among the respondents of the experimental group after the 3 months of banana consumption. The calculated independent ‘t’ values in all the three post-test’s (t = 3.59, df = 58; t = 9.23,df = 58; t = 9.14, df = 58 respectively) are greater than the table value (2.00); which indicates that the difference in the PMS symptoms among the respondents of experimental group and the control group, which means that the respondents of the experimental group had experienced significantly less PMS symptoms after consumption of banana for three months compared to the respondents of the control group. No significant association between the selected variables and the reduction in the PMS symptoms among the respondents of experimental group and control group.

Conclusion: The present study concludes that daily 100 grams of banana consumption for a period of 3 months had significantly reduced the Premenstrual syndrome. Banana consumption is found to be more effective and it is a simple measure to reduce the symptoms of Premenstrual syndrome.