Quality of Life of Women in Climacteric Transition in Delta State, Nigeria

Purpose:

The purpose of this study is to provide additional information on the symptoms and quality of life (QoL) of midlife women. This will assist administrators, policy makers and clinicians including nurses in developing and implementing interventions such as health teaching, exercise programs and active self-management programs aimed at improving midlife women’s overall QoL. This study also contributed to existing knowledge on reproductive and women’s health and it will serve as gateway for further research study. 

Methods:

This study was conducted among 405 midlife women who were selected by the use of a multistage sampling technique in six communities. Inclusion criteria include; midlife women within the age range of 45 to 60 years who are heterosexual and have been menstruating actively prior to eventual gradual cessation of menses.  The study adopted a mixed method descriptive design. Three standardized instruments were used to collect data for the study. (i) A modified Menopause–Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQoL) ) that was used to assess climacteric/menopausal symptoms of the subjects within four domains which are: vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual. (ii) A modified Utian Quality of Life (UQoL) questionnaire that was used to measure the degree of quality of life concerns of the subjects within four domains (health, emotional, occupational and sexual domains). (iii) A self developed semi–structured interview schedule. The instruments were tested for reliability with a Cronbach alpha test, the results were 0.832 for the MENQoL and 0.937 for the UQoL. And the validity was tested using face and content criteria. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS, version 20.0) done at univariate (simple statistics of frequency distribution such as percentage, mean and standard deviation) and bivariate (inferential statistics and multiple regression) levels. While qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis and triangulation methods.

Results:

The age range for onset of menopause was 40 – 60 years with mean age of 50.25±4.8 years. The most prevalent identified symptoms of climacteric transition experienced by the respondents were: (i) Vasomotor symptoms - profuse sweating during the day (67.9%), sweating at night (66.9%) and hot flushes (62.2%). (ii)  Psychosocial symptoms - accomplishing less work than they used to do before (67.7%), poor memory (57 %) and feeling of being anxious or nervous (52.6%). (iii) Physical symptoms - decrease in stamina (75.1%), difficulty in sleeping (65.7%), weight gain (60.5%), and aching in the muscle and joint (59.5%). (iv) Sexual symptoms - changes in the sexual desire (71.6%), dryness in vaginal during intercourse (66.9%) and trying to avoid intimacy (53.8%). The subjects had good QoL in the occupational (84.2 ± 3.86), emotional (83.9 ± 4.88) and health (75.0 ± 6.07) domains while they had fair QoL in the sexual domain (66.3 ± 9.54). Multiple regression test shows that there is significant relationship between the highest level of education attained (p= 0.001, β =0.271) with the women’s overall QoL. The regression also reveals that there is significant association between the symptoms of sexual domain (p= 0.045, β =0.115) with the women’s overall QoL.

Conclusion:

The study concluded that the highest level of education attained and symptoms of sexual domain had strong relationship with the women’s overall QoL. Therefore, even with the moderate problems the women experienced, their overall QoL was generally good.