Experience of Menopausal problems in North Karnataka: A mixed research

The study was conducted with an object of to study the menopausal problems experienced by middle aged women using a mixed methods approach. QUAN-qual mixed research method design was used with full informed consent from participants. In first phase of the study prevalence was conducted by door-to-door survey from 9512 middle aged women from Dharwad and Bagalkote districts of North Karnataka. In second phase quantitative study was conducted by using Menopause Rating Scale to assess the levels of menopausal problems experienced by 480 working and non-working women including rural and urban areas. In third phase qualitative study was conducted among 12 menopausal women were purposively selected for the study included three women who attended natural menopause and three women who underwent hysterectomy. The findings of the study reported that, the mean age at menopause was 46.21±1.92 years and age at which menopausal symptoms started was 36.43±2.75 years, 2/3rd of respondents experienced joint and muscular discomfort while nearly half (37-50%) of them had hot flushes along with these somatic problems 40-60 per cent of them suffered from irritability and mental exhaustion. Rural working and urban non-working women reported more menopausal problems. The study concludes that there is need for intervention programmes for menopausal women to cope better with menopausal changes.