Australian women's understanding of menopause and its consequences: a qualitative study.
Climacteric
; 23(6): 622-628, 2020 12.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32705886
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
This study was undertaken to determine women's knowledge of menopause and its consequences, and their menopause-related health-care experiences.METHODS:
Participants were recruited to this cross-sectional qualitative study from a nationally, representative sample of Australian women. Recruitment was stratified by age to achieve groups of premenopausal (PRE), perimenopausal (PERI), early postmenopausal (E-POST), and late postmenopausal (L-POST) women.RESULTS:
The 32 participants were aged 46-69 years 10 PRE, three PERI, 11 E-POST and eight L-POST women. All understood that menopause meant the end of reproductive function and were aware of menopause-associated symptoms. Most PRE and E-POST women referred to lifestyle changes to optimize health, and self-help and complementary therapies to manage symptoms. E-POST and L-POST women were more likely to nominate seeing a doctor for overall health and symptom management. Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) was viewed negatively, with shared perceptions of cancer risk and over-prescription. A strong theme was lack of knowledge of long-term menopause sequelae, with only four women nominating osteoporosis.CONCLUSIONS:
Our in-depth qualitative study would suggest that, while Australian midlife women have a good understanding of the immediate effects of menopause, their lack of knowledge of the long-term consequences is concerning. Despite the effectiveness and safety of MHT, the overall attitude to MHT remains negative.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Menopausia
/
Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en Salud
/
Salud de la Mujer
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
País/Región como asunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Climacteric
Asunto de la revista:
GINECOLOGIA
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Australia