An Internet-Based Education/Support Program For Menopausal Symptoms Of Korean American Midlife Women

Objective:  

Asian American midlife women including Korean American midlife women rarely seek help for their menopausal symptoms until the symptoms become intolerable, which frequently results in unnecessary burden to these women and subsequent disparities in menopausal symptom management. Thus, it is imperative to provide information and support for Korean American midlife women in menopausal symptom management so that they could go through menopausal transition smoothly and successfully. Based on previous studies, an Internet-based education/support Program for menopausal symptom management of Korean American midlife women has been recently developed by incorporating their ethnic-specific attitudes toward menopausal symptoms. The purpose of this presentation is to present the development process of an Internet-based education/support program for menopausal symptom management of Korean American midlife women based on findings from a larger study on midlife women's menopausal symptom experience.

Design:

An intervention development study

Setting:

Not applicable

Sample:

Not applicable

Methods:

The program was developed using the information mapping approach by Bartholomew et al. The expert evaluation includes five experts, and the Cognitive Walkthrough method was used. The records of the experts’ evaluation were analyzed using the content analysis by Weber. Then, as a group, the research team made decisions on the development of specific areas, and incorporated them into further development of the program.

Results:  

Based on the findings of previous studies, seven predictors were identified to influence menopausal symptom experience of Korean American midlife women. Then, the focus of the program development was given to the women’s attitudes because other predictors were non-modifiable. Among the non-modifiable predictors, only the country of origin, the length of time in the U.S. and the immigration generation were incorporated into the program development. The program was designed to have three components: interactive online message board; interactive online educational sessions; and online resources. Graphic User Interface controls were used, and the presentation styles were tailored to Korean American culture. As technological tools, the Ruby on Rails framework and the Xen hypervisor were used. All experts positively evaluated the program, but made several suggestions to make the structure more user-friendly. Two experts made some suggestions for the educational contents of the program (hormone replacement therapy and serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Based on the findings, the program has been further refined.

Conclusion/Implications for nursing practice:

Researchers need to make continuous efforts to develop and evaluate Internet-based education/support programs for menopausal symptom management of midlife women.

Keywords:  Intervention, midlife women, menopausal symptom management, Internet-based, Web-based