Sunday, June 28, 2009
Hall A (San Diego Convention Center)
Studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding the menopause experience of Hispanic midlife women in the U.S. Some reported that menopausal symptoms among Hispanic women were highly prevalent and similar to those described among Western women. However, others reported that Hispanic women rarely experienced hot flashes and hardly recalled any history of significant symptoms associated with their menopausal transition. The menopause symptom experience is also influenced by women's cultural attitudes toward menopause, and Hispanic women have been reported to have positive attitudes toward menopause. Because midlife is a multifaceted transitional stage in women's development, understanding of contextual factors that may circumscribe the menopausal symptom experience is essential. However, very little is still known about Hispanic midlife women's cultural attitudes toward menopause and the influences of ethnic-specific contexts on their menopausal symptom experience in American culture. The feminist approach was used as a theoretical perspective of the study. Thus, in this study, menopausal symptoms were defined from the women's own views, and description of their experience was sought repeatedly throughout the research process. Also, ethnicity and culture were viewed as significant characteristics that might influence Hispanic women's menopausal symptom experience. This was a qualitative cross-sectional study using an online forum. Twenty-seven Hispanic midlife women aged 40 to 60 years old were recruited through the Internet communities/groups for midlife women and the Internet communities/groups for Hispanics using a convenience sampling method. To conduct the 6-month online forum, seven topics related to menopausal symptom experience were used. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis involving line-by-line coding, categorization, and theme extraction. Through the data analysis process, four themes were identified: (a) “Cambio de vida (change of life),” (b) “being silent about menopause,” (c) “trying to be optimistic,” and (d) “getting support.” First, the women viewed menopause as “just a change of life (Cambio de vida)” from one stage of their life to another stage, which is accompanied with physical changes moving them from their ability to conceive to loss of that ability. Although menopausal symptoms were bothersome to some of the women, they thought that menopause is a natural process of life change and it would end ultimately. Second, menopause was not discussed in the women's families because it was considered as a bodily thing, a female issue, and a private issue that should not be discussed even with their mothers. Partially due to these cultural attitudes, all of the women who participated in the online forum tried to deal with menopause symptoms by themselves. Third, while trying to be optimistic about menopause and its symptoms, women tried to accept any menopause related difficulties and to adjust their life styles to adapt to the symptoms. Finally, although most of the women rarely shared their menopausal symptom experience even with their family members, many of the women mentioned about how supportive their families had been during the transition. These findings suggest more in-depth studies with diverse groups of Hispanic women while considering family as a contextual factor that influences their menopausal symptom experience.
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