Rural women's understanding of the concept of menopause in Limpopo Province, South Africa

The word 'menopause' is derived from men and pausis and is a direct description of the psychological and physical events in women where menstruation ceases to occur. It is the time in a woman's life when she has experienced the last menstrual bleed. Menopause is not a disease per se but a condition associated with hormonal changes where estrogen diminishes to a low level causing health related symptoms. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the knowledge of rural women concerning menopause in Mutale Municipality; South Africa. A qualitative; explorative; descriptive and contextual design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select the four villages and the focus groups. Sample size was determined by data saturation. The findings of the study indicated that the rural women in Mutale community had the common traditional understanding of the concept menopause; that blood is gone; old age; it was God' nature of doing things and that cessation of menstruation was a normal and natural transition. They could not attach cessation of menstruation to menopausal conditions but to old age and physical as well as psychological health related problems. There is need for health care providers to conduct workshops in order to enlighten rural women in this community regarding phenomenal issues of menopause

Menopausal challenges as perceived by women in rural villages of Limpopo Province, South Africa

The study explored the challenges of menopause as perceived by participants in rural villages of Vhembe District. A cross-sectional study involved a sample of 500 women between the ages of 40 years and above. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and was analysed descriptively. The results indicated that those experiencing night sweat were 39.1; hot flushes (43.4) and 43.4 difficulty falling asleep. As for urogenital category; about 50 reported frequency of urination while 41.3 and 35.2 reported having menstrual problems and issues related to 'avoiding intimacy' respectively. Concerning musculoskeletal symptoms; between 38 reported having joint aches/stiffness of the joints and low backache/muscle pains respectively.The study demonstrated a high prevalence of menopausal challenges among the perimenopausal and postmenopausal women; thus suggesting a need for an intervention to reduce the incidence of menopausal challenges associated with menopause in this population