A Comparative Study to Assess the Common Complaints and Attitude of Women who Attained Menopause in Selected Rural and Urban Community

INTRODUCTION: Life expectancy has increased worldwide over the past century. Men and women are living beyond the age of 80 years in most parts of the world. However, the average age of menopause remains around 50 years. This would mean that the average women would spend one third of her life in the menopause.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

. Assess the common complaints of rural and urban women who attained menopause.

. Assess the attitude of menopausal women towards the common complaints.

. Associate the common complaints and attitude of menopausal women with certain demographic variables such as age, occupation and obstetrical variables such as age at menarche, number of children and duration between last child birth and menopause.

. Prepare an educational module on common complaints of menopause and their home management.

RESEARCH DESIGN and METHODS: The research design employed for this study was descriptive method to assess the common complaints and attitude of menopausal women. Permission was obtained from Institutional Human Ethical Committee and also from concerned president of rural and urban area.

Consent from all the menopausal women were obtained and an interview was conducted by using structured interview questionnaire. The conceptual framework adopted for the study was Betty Neuman's model (1985).

RESULT: In urban commonly reported complaints were, joint pain (100%), change in urinary pattern (98%) no interest in sexual activity (90%), breast changes dry and wrinkled skin dental caries (76%), sudden feeling of heat (72), palpitation (58%). In rural commonly reported complaints were, no interest in sexual activity (96%), dental caries (92%) ocular complaints (72%), changes in urinary pattern (64%)Joint pain, (62%), breast changes, dry and wrinkled skin (62%), fatigue (52%). The study revealed that the association exist between residence and common complaints majority of menopausal women had positive attitude towards menopausal complaints and commonly reported health complaints were sudden feeling of heat, joint pain, and loss of interest in sexual activity.

CONCLUSION: In this study most of the women had menopausal complaints. Health team members should explain about the symptoms and management of menopausal complaints at home level.