Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Mar 24;23(1):128.
doi: 10.1186/s12905-023-02221-6.

Effect of group education and person-centered support in primary health care on mental health and quality of life in women aged 45-60 years with symptoms commonly associated with stress: a randomized controlled trial

Lena Rindner  1   2   3 , Lena Nordeman  4   5 , Gunilla Strömme  6   4 , Dominique Hange  4   7   8 , Ronny Gunnarsson  4   7   9 , Gun Rembeck  4   7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effect of group education and person-centered support in primary health care on mental health and quality of life in women aged 45-60 years with symptoms commonly associated with stress: a randomized controlled trial

Lena Rindner et al. BMC Womens Health. .

Abstract

Background: Mental illness and somatic symptoms are common causes of long-term sick leave for women during menopause, which usually occurs between the ages of 45 and 55. Many women experience a lack of knowledge about menopause and its associated symptoms. This study evaluates the effect of group education and person-centered individual support in primary health care (PHC) on mental health and quality of life for women in menopause with symptoms that are usually associated with stress.

Methods: The randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) with a two-factor design was conducted in PHC in southwestern Sweden, from 2018 to 2019. A total of 370 women aged 45-60 were allocated in four groups: 1, group education (GE) 2, GE and person-centered individual support (PCS) 3, PCS and 4, control group. GE comprised four weekly sessions and PCS included five sessions with topics related to menopause. The effect of the interventions were followed up at 6 and 12 months. Linear and ordinal regression were used to analyse the effect of the intervention, either group education or person-centred individual support.

Results: The main findings: Improved quality of life and physical, psychological, and urogenital symptoms. GE and PCS resulted in improvement of the quality of life at six months. At the 12-month follow-up these results were significantly strengthened for PCS and improved health-related quality of life, and reduced mental, urogenital, and stress-related symptoms with an effect lasting at least 12 months. These results suggest that this intervention could be an effective intervention in PHC for improving women's health in menopause.

Conclusions: PCS can be an effective intervention in PHC for improving women's health in menopause and possibly also prevent the development of exhaustion syndrome.

Trial registration: Universal trial number is U1111-1219-6542 and the registration number in ClinicalTrials.gov is NCT03663075, date of registration 10/09/2018.

Keywords: Education; Incontinence; Menopause; Menopause Rating Scale; Mental health; Person-centered; Primary health care; Women’s health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Participant flow
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gracia CR, Freeman EW. Onset of the menopause transition: the earliest signs and symptoms. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2018;45(4):585–597. doi: 10.1016/j.ogc.2018.07.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. WHO. Research on the Menopause in the . WHO technical services report 866. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1990. p. 1996. - PubMed
    1. Nelson HD. Menopause. Lancet. 2008;371(9614):760–770. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60346-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lytsy P, Larsson K, Anderzen I. Health in women on long-term sick leave because of pain or mental illness. Int J Rehabil Res. 2015;38(1):27–33. doi: 10.1097/MRR.0000000000000080. - DOI - PubMed
    1. 2020:8 SIR. Sjukfrånvaro i psykiatriska diagnoser. . Stockholm; 2020

Publication types

Associated data