IntroductionMenopause is the point at which a woman's menstrual periods come to a stop. When a woman goes 12 months without having her period, menopause is diagnosed. Menopause is one stage of midlife that a woman could find simple or challenging to get through. We conducted this study to assess the attitude of women aged over 40 concerning menopause and the determinants of menopausal symptoms. MethodologyThe community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the villages of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, for six months. We selected four villages and 100 samples using the multistage sampling procedure. Each hamlet had 25 households registered, and we collected the data using the face-to-face interview method. The study included all female participants between the ages of 40 and 60. Those women who had unnatural menopause and women who were on anti-depressant medication and hormone replacement therapy for the past six months were excluded. ResultsThe study's participants had an average age of 52.3 years, and 74% of them had experienced menopause. The menopausal rating scale revealed that around 81.1% of women had somatic symptoms, 70.3% had psychological problems, and 45.9% had urogenital symptoms. People who lived in urban areas, had class 1 socioeconomic status, and had sedentary work showed statistically significant associations with somatic symptoms. Those who lived in urban areas, were professionals by occupation, and did sedentary work showed statistically significant associations with psychological symptoms. The respondents who lived in urban areas had a statistically significant association with urogenital symptoms. We observed a statistically significant correlation between young age and psychological problems. There was a statistically significant correlation between symptoms in all three domains and increased weight. ConclusionMiddle-aged women have relatively little understanding of menopause. Somatic symptoms are more common in middle-aged women than psychological or urogenital symptoms. Menopausal symptoms are present in almost half of the respondents.

Background: Stressful puerperal period and its complications can be prevented by adequate care, proper diet and exercises. Though studies have indicated post-natal exercises (PNE) is helpful in reducing the effect of perineal muscle weakness, many women are unaware of its full benefits. This study is planned to know the knowledge, attitude and practice of PNE in post-natal mothers.Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in department of obstetrics and gynecology for 3 months (November 2019 to January 2020). 160 post-natal women were enrolled with convenient sampling. Structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and obstetric details, source of information, knowledge, attitude and practice of PNE.Results: A total 58.8% of this study participants revealed health care professions were the commonest source of information. More than half of them had adequate knowledge but still many were not aware of full benefits of PNE as only 3-5% aware of other benefits like prevention of urinary incontinence. 98.8% of the women’s felt PNE is essential and 62.5% felt household work hinder them doing. 92.5% said they will emphasize the importance of PNE to others. No significant correlation found between socio-demographic characters and knowledge, attitude and practice of PNE.Conclusions: Though most of the study population had adequate knowledge and positive attitude, household activities were the commonest barrier in doing PNE. Educating and creating awareness among family members is essential to improve the adherence. Continuing influence by health care workers during antenatal and postnatal period will be the key for improving adherence.