RESULTS
The study included 224 women with a mean age of 53.0±6.1 (42–65) years. Among the participants, 75.9% (n=170) were married, whereas 7.6% (n=17) were single, and 16.5% (n=37) were divorced. (n=74). Of the women, 33.0% were primary school graduates, 63.8% (n=143) had a balance of income and expenses, and 58.0% had no chronic diseases. Moreover, 71.0% of the respondents had gone through menopause, whereas 21.0% had not; and 8.0% did not know if they had gone through menopause or not. The mean age of the first menstrual period of the women was 13.02±1.31 (10–16) years, the median number of births was 2 (0–9), the mean menopausal age of women who had gone through menopause was 47.79 ± 4.5 (38–58) years (Table 1).
Nearly half (56.7%) of the respondents said that they had previously received information about menopause. Among these women, 59.4% had received the information from doctors, whereas 18.8% received it from midwives, 12.1% received it from social media, 18.3% received it from acquaintances, and 8% received it from radio-TV. Of the participants, 82.6% thought that women who had gone through menopause or doubted so should consult a doctor. The mean menopause knowledge score of the women was 4.90±2.63 (1–10), and the average awareness score was 4.08±1.40 (1–6) (Table 6). Those with higher levels of education had higher awareness scores, and those with lower income levels had lower awareness.
While the mean ATMS score of the women was 43.97±10.93 (11–70), 37.9% had a negative attitude (40 points and below) and 62.1% had a positive attitude (above 40 points). A statistically significant relationship was found between the marital and educational status of the participants and the ATM score (p=0.008). The ATMS score of those who were married (44.95±11.35) was higher than that of the single women (40.89 ± 8.91).
On the MRS scale, the mean somatic complaint score was found to be 6.43±3.74, whereas the psychological complaint score was 6.21±4.09, urogenital complaint score was 3.88±2.65, and the total mean MRS score was 16.53 ± 8.92. A statistically significant relationship was found between the marital status, educational status, presence of chronic disease, and menopause status of the participants, and the MRS score (p<0.001). The menopause-related complaints of the women are shown in Figure 1.
Psychological complaints (7.46±4.68), urogenital complaints (4.31±2.98), and MRS total scores (18.02±10.14) of the women with negative attitudes about menopause were found to be statistically significantly higher than those of the women with positive attitudes (p=0.001, p=0.038, and p=0.049, respectively) (Table 2). Somatic (7.64±3.71), psychological (8.21±4.28), and urogenital (5.90±2.78) complaints of the women who indicated that they performed no physical activity in daily life and lived a sedentary life were found to be higher than those who performed mild to moderate physical activity (p=0.045, p=0.002, p=0.002, and p<0.001) (Table 3).
Among the women, 31.7% (n=71) were in the perimenopausal period, 28.1% (n=63) were in the menopausal period, and 40.2% (n=90) were in the postmenopausal period. Somatic (8.05±3.34), psychological (7.43±3.89), and urogenital (3.79±2.94) complaints of the women in the menopausal period were higher than those of the women in the perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods (p<0.001). While the attitudes of the women about menopause did not change in any of the 3 stages of the climacteric period, the level of knowledge about menopause was higher in menopausal women than in women in the perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods (p<0.001) (Table 4).
There was a moderately significant negative relationship between the ATMS scores of the women participating in the study and their psychological complaints due to menopause (r=0.317, p=0.001). As their positive attitude towards menopause increased, their psychological complaints decreased. However, there was a moderately significant negative relationship between the menopause awareness status and psychological complaints of the women (r=–0.288, p=0.001). As their menopause awareness increased, their psychological complaints decreased (Table 5).