Stress a hidden problem in the life of menopausal women

Abstract

Menopause is a normal stage in the life process of a woman but many women find the time around menopause stressful. This study aims to evaluate the impact of stress on the health status of menopausal women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected areas in Jharsuguda district of Western Odisha. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the study participants. The total 330 samples were collected from women who were in pre, peri and post-menopausal stage. Assessment of stress was made by Sheldon Cohen’s, the Perceived Stress Scale for assessing the stress level of menopausal women. Results: Results of the study revealed that the level of stress is dominant on overall health of a woman during onset of menopause. It was observed that most of the respondents had moderate level of stress i.e. 43.93% followed by low level and high-level stress i.e. 29.09% and 26.96% respectively. PSS scores were significantly related to the prevalence of number of menopausal symptoms. There was a moderate positive correlation found between stress and experience of menopausal symptoms among the women i.e. between physical & physiological (r = 0.407, P < 0.00001) and physical and psychological (r = 0.432, P < 0.00001). It was interestingly noted that, when the stress was increased, the women experienced more health problems. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the health status of menopausal women is related to onset of level of stress during menopause.