The purpose of this study was to identify an attitude toward menstruation, perimenstrual symptoms, and coping used by female college students.

A convenience sample of 151 students was obtained from two nursing colleges in Mokpo and Gwangju. Data were collected through questionnaires from June 15 to June 28, 2005. Three instruments were used in this study, the menstrual symptoms, menstrual attitude, and menstrual coping. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation using SPSS 10.0 program.

The results showed that most 3rd and 4th year students complained about discomfort during their perimenstrual period, had a negative attitude toward menstruation due to the discomfort, but coped well during the period even with a lot of discomfort. With this results, there is a need for a nursing mediator to provide relief for discomfort during perimenstrual period so college female students have a positive attitude toward menstruation. There is a need for further research to determine the relationship between other variables and discomfort during the perimenstrual period. It is also needed to investigate if there are differences in these variables studied according to ages and occupations in women.

From these findings, problem solving strategies for menstrual symptoms, positive attitudes, and coping should be a comprehensive approach to a nursing intervention to help women.