The effectiveness of group counselling based on positive psychology on the psychology capital of students with premenstrual syndrome: a randomized controlled clinical trial

During menstruation, psychological capital (PsyCap) holds great potential for young women to manage and adapt to changes in their bodies and minds. This study aimed to investigate the effect of group counseling with a positive approach on the PsyCap of students with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 40 students with PMS in 2021. The students were allocated to either the intervention or control groups using a random sampling method of four blocks. The intervention group received six group counseling sessions based on Seligman's positive psychology protocol. Data were collected using McGee's PsyCap questionnaire before, immediately after, and two months later. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16, and Chi-square, independent t-test, and analysis of variance of repeated measures (ANOVA) were utilized. Based on the results of the independent t-test, the mean PsyCap scores showed a significant increase immediately after the intervention and two months later in the intervention group (p-value = 0.001). Positive counseling effectively increased PsyCap scores. Future studies are warranted to further investigate the effectiveness of this method in managing PMS. Trial registration: IRCT20201113049377N1.