Social functioning as a significant factor in women's help-seeking behaviour during the climacteric period

Abstract

In order to identify the psychosocial factors that lead to the demand for medical care related to the menopause, we carried out a case/control study. A case was defined as a woman who sought gynaecological care due to "menopausal complaints" (n = 85) and a control referred to a woman drawn at random from the general population. The cases showed greater psychiatric morbidity and social dissatisfaction, a lower level of diffused social support and a higher frequency of severe life events and the controls showed greater social maladjustment in objective conditions. The multivariate analysis (logistic regression) carried out after adjusting all the relevant variables, indicated that the demand for medical care due to menopausal complaints was not only determined by the menopausal status itself but also by a set of social and demographic variables, especially dissatisfaction and a lack of social support.

Stress Vulnerability and Climacteric Symptoms: Life Events, Coping Behavior, and Severity of Symptoms

“…This result appears to contradict previous findings reported by Ballinger [13] or Montero et al [14], who confirmed that patients with menopausal symptoms had experienced more undesirable life events than healthy control women. This contradiction of results might be partly explained by various researchers' choice of study subjects.…”

“…Using a life event model and a multivariate analysis technique, Greene and Cooke [12] reported that life stress in a normal population of women influenced the severity of menopausal symptoms more significantly than did menopause itself. In addition, two studies confirmed that women who sought treatment for menopausal symptoms had experienced more stressful life events than did healthy women [13,14]. These studies strongly suggest the existence of some association between stress and menopausal symptoms.…”

Hot Flash, Hot Topic: Conceptualizing Menopausal Symptoms From a Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective

“…Although psychological distress is not a necessary outcome of menopause, it is likely the interaction of psychosocial and physiological factors that determines the impact of menopausal symptoms on a woman's life. In addition to stress and cognitive factors discussed earlier, other research has suggested that physical health (Defey, Storch, Cardozo, Diaz, & Fernandez, 1996), social support (Montero, Ruiz, & Hernandez, 1993), and beliefs about menopause and aging (Hunter, 1993) interact to form a unique experience for each woman. Behavioral (i.e.…”

A Behavioral Group Treatment Program for Menopausal Hot Flashes: Results of a Pilot Study

“…Specifically, stress levels (Swartzman, Edelberg, & Kemmann, 1990;Slade & Amaee, 1995), lack of social support (Montero, 1993), beliefs about menopause (Defey, 1996;Hunter, 1993), prior physical and mental health concerns (Defey, 1996;Hunter, 1993;Montero, 1993), and severity of symptoms (Bernhard, 1993) may play a role in treatment-seeking and symptom experience at this time. These findings underscore a need for psychosocial assessment and intervention.…”