ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Qualitative Study

Authors

Moradi   Gh. (1)
Hamidi   S. (2)
Hosseini   A. (2)
Saeidi   S. (2)
Yousefi   J. (2)
Bagheri   Sh. (*2)






(1) Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran
(2) Health Network of Sanandaj, Kurdestan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Kurdestan University of Medical Sciences, Pasdaran Street, Sanandaj, Iran. Postal Code: 6617913446
Phone: +98 (87) 33174104
Fax: -
shararehb79@gmail.com

Article History

Received:  April  13, 2019
Accepted:  August 6, 2019
ePublished:  December 21, 2019

BRIEF TEXT


Aging is associated with menopause in women that is a very broad concept due to the coincidence with the appearance of aging symptoms.

… [1-5]. The prevalence of emotional-psychological symptoms in menopause has reported 79% [6] and in another study more than 20-25% [7]. Studies have shown that more than half of postmenopausal women develop physical-psychological symptoms [6]. In general, in Western countries, menopause is considered a negative part of life, in which women's health is lost and is commonly referred as deficiency syndrome [8]. … [8-15].

The aim of this study was to explain the self-concept of postmenopausal women.

The present study was a qualitative phenomenological research.

The present study was conducted among 23 menopausal women referred to Sanandaj health clinics in 2018.

Inclusion criteria were no menstruation during the last 6 months, menopause of less than 5 years, and willingness to participate in research and expressing experiences. Exclusion criteria were history of hysterectomy. Sampling continued until complete perspectives on the studied topic (saturation). Eligible postmenopausal women were interviewed using a deep open semi-structured method.

The data were analyzed using the four criteria of Crediblity, Confirmability, Dependability, and Transferibiliy. In order to increase the validity of the data, varied samples were used, i.e. samples with different socioeconomic and educational status. The coded text was also returned to some participants and the degree of compliance of the selected codes with the comments was assessed. Bracketing was also used to increase the validity of the data and the researcher abandoned the assumptions regarding the studied subject. Regarding the reliability of the data, the researcher recorded all efforts to collect and analyze the data and provided two researchers of the research team with to increase the verifiability of the extracted text, interviews, codes, and classes. Data were analyzed using MAXQDA 10 software.

The mean age of the participants was 54.12 ± 5.44 years, of whom 3 were widows. In terms of education, 5 cases were illiterate, 6 cases had elementary, 4 cases had diploma and 8 subjects had university education. Two cases had premature menopause (before the age of 40) and 10 cases were employed. They had 2-5 children. Extracting the main themes did not include all concepts examined in the BSCT, however, most of the findings were in line with the BSCT criteria; therefore, they were used to report the results. Finally, 6 main themes were obtained (Table 1). Mental Ability: the concepts related to information, intelligence, learning, ability to read and memory. Most of the women were satisfied with their mental abilities and did not report any negative changes. Job Satisfaction: the concepts related to completing tasks, efforts, success, laziness and coconscious. Moat cases were fully satisfied with these abilities and had no worries. Physical attractiveness: look, popularity, attractiveness, appearance and tidiness. The look was the most pronounced issue by women, and changes in face, loss of skin and hair vitality, and wrinkles and obesity were major concerns for women. Social Skills: It included humor and sportsmanship. Most women were not physically active and had specific reasons (no adequate space, lack of time, etc.) that were not necessarily related to menopause and were pre-menopausal habits. Disadvantages and Benefits: Included greed, selfishness, cruelty, kindness, and moods. Moods were one of the most common concerns of postmenopausal women. Bodily pain: such as headaches and leg pain, hypertension, and elevated blood lipids were frequent concepts in the participants' interviews that could be categorized into a separate category called physical health.

The results of the present study indicated that the participants were satisfied with their mental abilities, such as the concepts of information, intelligence, learning, ability to read and memory, and did not report negative change in this regard. This finding is consistent with results of recent studies showing that menopause at an older age with a longer reproductive ability are associated with better cognitive performance and a decrease in cognitive impairment [16] and is inconsistent with the fact that women have more memory deficit during and after menopause than before [17]. Seifsili et al. [4] also stated that aging does not cause menopausal symptoms, but feeling about aging can affect and aggravate the severity of menopausal symptoms. In fact, it can be said that through aging, women's attitudes toward menopause can be more influential than menopause itself. … [18-27].

It is suggested to conduct qualitative and quantitative research on the awareness of menopause in different cultures and ethnicities in order to prevent from developing feeling old and negative attitudes towards menopause by training women.

It cannot be conclusively concluded that the problems mentioned by the participants were due to menopause, as they may also found in non-menopausal women.

Postmenopausal women, except for intellectual ability and occupational efficacy, have problems in other themes, such as physical attractiveness, social skills, and exercise, mood, and physical problems, which indicates inappropriate self-concept after menopause.

The authors are grateful to the Research Deputy and Social determinants of Health Research Center of the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences for funding this research, as well as all the participated women who expressed their feelings and experiences.

None declared.

This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences (Ethics IR.MUK.REC.1397/21).

This research was funded by the Deputy of Research and Social determinants of Health Research Center of the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences.

TABLES and CHARTS

Show attach file


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