Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Menopause Symptoms and Its Effect on Quality of Life Among Turkish Women

Abstract

Introduction:The research was conducted to determine complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) applications that women resorted for menopause symptoms and the effect of this on life quality. Methods:The descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed on 270 women in 2014. Data were collected using The Survey Form and The Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Scale.Results: Average age of women in the study was 54.2±5.0. It was determined that women in menopause stage experienced frequent hot flushes (86.9%), vaginal dryness/dyspareunia (81.7%), muscle-joint ache (70.4%) and decrease in sexual desire (65.7%). CAM use ratio was found to be 62.2%. It was determined that 10% of women applied these methods by consulting a health team. It was found that the biologically based of therapies (90.5%), with the use of herbal medicine, is the main practice used during menopause, then the mind-body interventions (83.3%) as the prayer of healing and the manipulation body-based methods (34.5%), exercises and acupuncture are also cited with common practices. It was determined that life qualities of women using CAM were better in vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual areas (p<0.05). Conclusion: More than half the women had used a CAM therapy in the study. CAM methods used by women are beneficial considerably (53%-90%) for menopause symptoms. It is suggested that women in this stage, when menopause symptoms are controlled better by CAM use, should receive training and consultancy about safe CAM use and further studies are conducted.