Abstract

Introduction: Menopause represents a delicate period which although can be experienced in a very subjective way, is generally characterized by a higher psycho-physical vulnerability. Women need to be supported during this period to maintain their well-being.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study is to look at women’s experience and well-being related to menopause.

Materials and Methods: The project is a quantitative analytic observational study with comparison group. The study involved two different groups of women, between 45 and 60 years old, who are regular patients either of the traditional gynecology clinic (group 1) or the complementary medicine gynecology clinic (group 2) in the City of Lucca (Tuscany, Italy). Women were given two different questionnaires: the SF 12 questionnaire [2] and the “Survey on menopause experience” questionnaire.

Results: In both groups the mean score for mental functioning is below the score of 50, whereas physical functioning is above 50 (indicating a good health quality of life) only in group 2. Results of SF-12 show a statistically significant (p: 0,006) increasing in mental well-being related to the progression of menopausal stage (perimenopause: mean: 34,48, SD: 8,2; menopause: mean: 40,36, SD: 9,1; post-menopause: mean: 48,1, SD: 10). Almost the totality of women declared to agree with the affirmation “Menopause is a normal part of a woman’s life”. Regarding the effectiveness of the last therapy used to treat menopause symptoms: 60% of group 1 and 90% of group 2 affirmed that “the last therapy did improve my symptoms”. Regarding the information received by heath care professionals about menopause: 5,9% of group 1 and 38,9% of group 2 was quite satisfied, compared to 35,3% of group 1 and 11,1% of group 2 which was not satisfied with the information received.

Conclusion: Women treated at the complementary medicine clinic report a better experience of menopause, a wider knowledge and a greater use of remedies to treat menopause symptoms and are generally more satisfied with the therapies used to treat menopause disorders.

Keywords: Menopause; Complementary Medicine; Integrative Medicine; Women’s Health

References

1. World Health Organization. Strategy and action plan for healthy ageing in Europe, 2012-2020 (2012).
2. Ware J Jr., et al. “A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity”. Medical Care3 (1996): 220-233.

Citation

Citation: Alessia Melacca. “An Observational Study of Women’s Experience and Health Needs Related to Menopause at the Clinic of Complementary Medicine in Lucca, Tuscany Region, Italy”. Acta Scientific Women's Health 2.7 (2020): 03-05.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Alessia Melacca. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.