VALIDATION OF THE VIETNAMESE VERSION OF THE PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME SCREENING TOOL IN FEMALE MEDICAL STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY

Objectives: To validate the Vietnamese version of the Premenstrual Syndrome Screening Tool (PSST). Materials and method: This was a cross-sectional study including 303 female-students in Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, who were between 18 and 45 years of age were approached to participate in this study. The PSST was translated from English to Vietnamese and conversely by obstetrician-gynecologist and psychiatrist independently. This initial version was piloted first in 20 women who were interviewed individually to make sure that participants and interviewers understood the items and the PSST has cultural adaptation before starting the interviews and collecting data. The participants were monitored premenstrual symptoms over at least two consecutive menstrual cycles by the Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP), based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria by American Psychiatric Association. Results: The prevalence of PMS and PMDD screening by Vietnamese PSST were 28.4% and 0.7%, respectively. The Vietnamese PSST showed specificity of 81.8% and sensitivity of 77.4%, high negative predicted value of 97.2% and low positive predicted value of 30.7%. The Cronbach’s α was high 0.91. As for test-retest reliability, Vietnamese PSST showed fairly good agreement with Kappa = 0.44, percent agreement = 72.0%. In exploraotory factor analysis using PCA (Principal components analysis) resulted in Vietnamese PSST can capture more cases with high score on PSST who are most likely definte PMS/PMDD by DSM-5 criteria. Conslusion: The Vietnamese version of the PSST is a reliable and effective tool for screening PMS in primary care in Viet Nam Key words: Premenstrual syndrome; Premenstrual dysphoric disorder; Premenstrual symptom screening tool