RESUMO
The researchers aim in this synthesis is to interpret the cultural constructions of menopause in Indigenous women and apply these interpretations to the context of Maori women in Aotearoa/New Zealand. There is a lack of research about Indigenous women's interpretations of health, and how culture mediates understandings and experiences of menopause. There is even less research regarding Maori women's understandings and experiences of menopause, as the discourse is dominated by Western ideology. Using meta ethnography methodology, the researchers selected eight studies, that provided the foundations to enable the interpretation of the cultural constructions of menopause in Indigenous women. The findings were then translated into four metaphors- natural, cultural protection, freedom and idiomatic and then were subsequently translated to Maori concepts mana wahine, Matauranga Maori, tikanga and pepeha. We suggest that broader mainstream understandings of the cultural constructions of menopause for Indigenous women are necessary to provide equitable health outcomes for Maori and other Indigenous women. The researchers further developed a model that can be used to represent the foundations of Maori women's conscious understandings and experience of menopause.
