The main aim of the study is to assess the women’s Awareness of menopausal symptoms and the measures taken by them i n view of preparing self-instructional module.
Totally 180 samples were selected for this study from selected settings in Asmara by clustering sample technique. The interview questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data analysis was done by SPSS package.
The result of the study showed the
Middle age is one of the turning points in women’s life as it brings along many changes. It is midway between the challenges of adulthood and despair of old age, comes the changes, i.e. menopause in women and which take a compulsory change of direction (Meyer, 2003). As a woman approaches menopause, the number of ovarian follicles declines producing less estrogen causing irregular menstrual period and a host of other physical discomforts. The reduction of estrogen production results in a number of signs and symptoms, which could be observed during menopausal transition (Clarisa, et al., 2007 as cited in Girma, 2014). One third of the age of women spent in menopause. On the other hand, one third of the female population is in menopause suffering with menopausal symptoms [1-5].
The main aim of the study is to assess the women’s Awareness of menopausal symptoms and the measures taken by them.
To assess the demographic variables.
To assess the awareness of menopausal symptoms.
To assess any measures taken by women to relieve the menopausal symptoms.
To assess the mean age of menopause.
To find out the association between demographic variables and awareness.
Descriptive cross-sectional design was used in this study. The research samples are female workers selected from Asmara College of health sciences and Public Transportation of ZobaMaekel between the ages of 40-60 years. Cluster sampling technique wasused to select 180 samples for the study. The data were collected using interview questionnaire.it was analyzed using descriptive &inferential statistics. SPSS version 20 was the statistical program used for analysis [5-15].
Most of them (56.11%.) were between the age group of 40-45 .
Few of them (12.78%.)were between the age group of 51-55
More than half of them (51.67%.) were attained menopause.
Most of the participants (97.84%.)were attained menopause naturally.
More than half of them (56.11 %) were not aware of menopausal symptoms.
24.79% mentioned their source of information were from the health care providers.
The majority of them (72.22%) were not taken any action to relive the menopausal symptoms.
The
N=180
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|
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| Menopausal Women | 93 | 51.67% |
| premenopausal women | 87 | 48.33% |
N=93
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| Natural | 91 | 97.84% |
| Medical | 0 | 0% |
| Surgical | 2 | 2.16% |
Table 2: shows that most of the participants were attained menopause naturally91 (97.84%) and 2 (2.16%) of them had surgical menopause [16]
.
N =180
|
|
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| Aware | 79 | 43.88% |
| Not Aware | 101 | 56.11% |
Table 3: shows that among 180 participants 79(43.88%) of them were aware of menopausal symptoms and the majority of them {101(56.11)} were not aware of menopausal symptoms [17].
N=180
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| 1 | Hot flashes | 50 | 27.78% |
| 2 | Vaginal dryness | 2 | 1.11% |
| 3 | Shorter duration | 0 | 0% |
| 4 | Shorter cycles | 14 | 7.78% |
| 5 | Incontinence | 4 | 2.22% |
| 6 | Longer cycles | 21 | 11.66% |
| 7 | Difficulty sleeping | 10 | 5.56% |
| 8 | Easy tearfulness | 3 | 1.67% |
| 9 | Night sweats | 31 | 17.22% |
| 10 | Irregular periods | 43 | 23.88% |
| 11 | Lighter periods | 8 | 4.44% |
| 12 | Irritability | 59 | 32.77% |
| 13 | Longer cycles | 12 | 6.66% |
| 14 | Low mood or depression | 8 | 4.44% |
| 15 | Decreased ability to concentration | 6 | 3.33% |
| 16 | Weight gain | 39 | 21.66% |
| 17 | Absence of periods | 62 | 34.44% |
| 18 | Heavier periods or flooding | 17 | 9.44% |
| 19 | Loss of interest in sex | 15 | 8.33% |
| 20 | Changes in hair growth | 0 | 0% |
| 21 | Memory problems | 5 | 2.77% |
| 22 | Others | 33 | 18.33% |
N=79
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| 2 | 12 | 15.2 |
| 3 | 29 | 36.7 |
| 4 | 15 | 19.0 |
| 5 | 10 | 12.7 |
| 6 | 8 | 10.1 |
| 7 | 3 | 3.8 |
| 9 | 1 | 1.3 |
| 10 | 1 | 1.3 |
| Total | 79 | 100.0 |
Table -5: shows that many of them mentioned 3 symptoms {29(36.7%)} and only one mentioned 9(1.3%) and another one mentioned 10(1.3%) symptoms
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| Health provider | 30 | 24.79% |
| Books, magazines, journals | 4 | 3.30% |
| Mass media | 9 | 7.43% |
| Friend | 23 | 19% |
| Relatives | 6 | 4.96% |
| Educational session | 13 | 10.74% |
| Community elders | 5 | 4.13% |
| Parents | 4 | 3.30% |
| Personal experience | 27 | 22.31% |
Table-6: shows that most of them 30(24.79%) they mentioned their source of information were from the health care providers and the least of them {4 (3.30%)} were mentioned books, magazines, journals and 4 (3.30%) of them got information from their parents [18-23].
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| Health center | 4 | 5.06% | 2 | 1.98% | 6 | 3.33% |
| Hospital | 18 | 22.78% | 10 | 9.90% | 28 | 15.55% |
| Private hospital | 6 | 7.59% | 3 | 2.97% | 9 | 5% |
| Traditional healer | 0 | 0% | 2 | 1.98% | 2 | 1.11% |
| Holly water | 6 | 7.59% | 6 | 5.94% | 12 | 6.67% |
| Dietary modification | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Action not taken | 45 | 56.96% | 78 | 77.22% | 123 | 68.% |
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| Age | 0.87(NS) |
| Education | 0.044(S) |
| Occupation | 0.128(NS) |
| Religion | 0.011(S) |
| Family type | 0.05(S) |
| Residence-Urban &Rural | 0.633(NS) |
Table: 8 shows that the associations were found with education (P- 0.044), religion (P- 0.011) and type of family (P- 0.05). The other demographic variables were not having significant association. Hence H1 was rejected.
According to the results, most of the women were not aware of the menopausal symptoms and the measures that should be taken. From this it can be concluded that even though the mothers were experiencing the symptoms they were not able to relate it with menopausal symptoms which may be because of lack of awareness.
Women needed to enhance awareness towards menopausal symptoms and measure taken to relive menopausal symptoms. It is important to emphasize on educating them about menopause how much it influences their health and how to adopt healthy lifestyle behavior to relive their menopausal symptoms. So further studies needed in Eritrea
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