Abstract :
Introduction: The average life expectancy of women is more but they face health issues due to the
physilogical condition of menopause. Women spend one third of their life after menopause. Long term
complications of menopause is a major Public Health Problem. This study was conducted to determine their
Knowledge and Awareness a bout Menopausal Symptoms & their Attitude Towards Menopausal Hormone
Therapy (MHT) in Urban & Rural women.
Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional, quasi-experimental study was conducted in some
urban areas of Chennai and in some rural areas around Chennai. After obtaining the approval of the
Institutional Ethics Committee and after obtaining an Informed Consent, the women were interviewed with
a validated structured questionnaire related to knowledge, attitude and practices regarding menopause and
MHT. The same group of women was later on interviewed during a follow-up visit and improvement was
assessed.
Results: 770 women from urban and rural women between the age group 40-65 years were recruited.
The mean age of menopause in both groups was 48.5 years. In both groups, knowledge about menopause
symptoms was low. After imparting health education, a significant statistical change was noticed in their
knowledge with T Value of 2.4 and a p value of 0.016 in urban and in rural women. Significant improvement
was seen in both urban and rural women with regard to their knowledge of long-term complications of joint
pain with a T Value of 1.32 and p value of 0.105. With respect to Osteoporosis, the figures were 0.582 and
0.78 respectively. In the case of a change in towards a positive attitude, the figures were 0.685 and 0.69.
Both the groups had positive attitude towards menopause and negative attitude significantly changed after
health education. Their attitude towards Menopause Hormone Therapy also changed significantly with a T
score of 0.582 and p value of 0.789. Only 9.35% had MHT. In 58.33% women, the source of information
was through the doctors.
Conclusion: When women understand gain knowledge about menopause symptoms, it will be easy for
them to cope up with the menopausal changes and they will seek medical care. Identification of the
women’s knowledge and their attitude were the key components in the training programme.
Keyword :
Knowledge, Attitude, Menopause, Practice, Menopausal Hormone Therapy, Urban & Rural.