Poster Presentation
Monday, November 14, 2005
Menopausal Symptoms of Multi-Ethnic Middle-Age Women
Eun-Ok Im, RN, MPH, PhD, CNS, School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, Hsiu-Min Tsai, PhD, Chang Gung Institute of Technology/Nursing, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan, and Wonshik Chee, PhD, Mechanical Engineering and Biomechanics, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: Understand ethnic differences in menopausal symptom experience |
| Learning Objective #2: Understand potential influences of contextual factors on menopausal symptom experience |
PURPOSE: What is known about menopause has limited applicability to health care settings in the U.S., where increasing numbers of ethnic minority women seek health care from health care providers including nurses, about 90% of whom are White. The purpose of the study was to explore ethnic differences in menopausal symptoms among four major ethnic groups in the U.S. THEORETICAL BASIS: A feminist perspective was used to guide the study process. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional comparative study. A total of 158 mid-life women were recruited through the Internet and community settings using a convenience sampling method during 2003-2004. The instruments included sociodemographic questions, the Midlife Women's Symptom Index, and the Menopausal Symptom Checklist. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics including chi-square tests and ANOVA. FINDINGS: There was no statistically significant ethnic difference in the total number of total, physical, psychological, and psychosomatic symptoms measured by the MSI. However, there were statistically significant ethnic differences in the total number of total symptoms (F=4.49, p<.01) and physical symptoms (F=6.33, p<.01) measured by the MSC. The most frequently reported symptoms were also different according to ethnic groups. Other than ethnicity and race, menopausal symptoms were also found to be significantly associated with contextual factors including religion, income satisfaction, birth place, health status, disease status, and menopausal status. The findings strongly suggest that using a different instrument to measure menopausal symptoms can possibly bring in a significant difference in findings. Conclusions: The study suggests further investigations on ethnic differences in menopausal symptoms among a larger group of multi-ethnic participants, ethnic-specific contextual factors, and limitations of the Internet recruitment and Internet format of an instrument.