Among the 906 students who completed the Dysmenorrhea
Identification Form (DIF), 421 met the inclusion
criteria for our study, and 252 female students from among
this group were willing to participate. All participants who
met the inclusion criteria were listed randomly. The participants
were balloted and the first rank was determined
as the control group (CG), the second rank was determined
as the self-medication group (SMG), and the third rank was
determined as the local low-dose heat patch group (HPG).
The randomization scheme is summarized in Fig. 1.
Some participants discontinued the study during the
2-month follow-up period. The algorithm in Fig. 2 illustrates
the reasons for these discontinuations