No abstract

This study aimed to investigate the awareness of menopause and strategıes to cope wıth menopausal symptoms of the women aged between 40 and 65 who consulted to a tertiary care hospital and among those who were postmenopausal, to measure the severity of symptoms and to determine the strategies and choice of resources to cope with menopausal symptoms. From a total of 292 women 272 (93%) were available to participate in the study. A questionnaire and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) was during face-to-face interviews. The mean age was 50.1±6.5 years. The mean total MRS score of non-menopausal women was 16.6±8.9. The mean scores: 6.2±3.5 for somatic subscale, 6.5±3.7 for psychological subscale and 3.8±2.7 for urogenital subscale. The most common menopausal symptom was physical and mental exhaustion (84.0%). Severe menopausal symptoms were identified in 79 (46.7%) women completing the MRS scale. The women with an average monthly income of 2000 TL or less and chronic illness had a higher frequency of severe menopausal symptoms. The most commonly preferred coping strategy was visit to a medical doctor or a healthcare center (n=103, 60.9%). In order to raise awareness about menopause, structured education programs should be prepared and implemented.