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. 2023 Jun;29(2):67-84.
doi: 10.1177/20533691231166543. Epub 2023 Mar 29.

An online survey of postmenopausal women to determine their attitudes and knowledge of the menopause

Rawan Aljumah  1 , Samantha Phillips  1 , Joyce C Harper  1
Affiliations

An online survey of postmenopausal women to determine their attitudes and knowledge of the menopause

Rawan Aljumah et al. Post Reprod Health. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To explore postmenopausal women's attitudes and knowledge of the menopause.

Study design: An online survey to evaluate women's attitudes and knowledge of the menopause, promoted via social media. In this study, only the data from 829 women who identified as postmenopausal were analysed.

Main outcome measures: Quantitative and qualitative data.

Results: Regarding women's attitudes towards the menopause before they went through it, 18.0% were accepting of it, 15.8% were dreading it and 5.1% were looking forward to it. 38.1% of women felt that the menopause was difficult, 24.6% felt it was very difficult and 20.7% felt it was fine. 94.1% of women had never been taught about the menopause at school, and 49.0% did not feel informed at all about the menopause. More than 60% started looking for information regarding menopause as their symptoms started. The qualitative thematic analysis of the participants' responses produced six themes: the need for education, knowledge and understanding of symptoms, why is getting treatment so difficult, feelings and attitudes towards the menopause, the impact of menopause on a woman's life, the importance of the media - are they getting it right.

Conclusion: Women's lack of education and their healthcare professionals' lack of adequate training on the menopause means that women enter this critical life stage uneducated and unsupported. It is vital that everyone is taught about the menopause and that general practitioners receive proper training. The negative narrative of menopause needs to be re-addressed to normalise the menopause and give postmenopause women hope.

Keywords: Estrogen; Perimenopause; hormone replacement therapy; menopause; postmenopause.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Joyce Harper is author of Your Fertile Years and founder of Reproductive Health at Work. She regularly gives paid talks on the menopause.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The women’s feeling towards the menopause before they went through it.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The women’s feeling towards the menopause now that they have been through it.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Women’s thoughts about no longer having periods.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The women’s feelings now that they are postmenopausal.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
How informed the women felt about perimenopause/menopause before the age of 40.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
The stage at which the women started to look for information regarding perimenopause/menopause if they did look for information.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
The ways in which the women looked for information about the menopause.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
When the women thought that menopause should be taught.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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