Menopausa

: impacto das representações perante a menopausa, das alterações de humor e da preocupação com a forma corporal na satisfação conjugal

Abstract

Menopause is a natural and important developmental process in a woman’s life and perceived as a moment of change in physical and emotional health, being a period of vulnerability. Several studies have verified the association of several psychosocial factors such as representations,mood changes and body shape with marital satisfaction during menopause. Thus, this study aims to analyze the impact of representations towards menopause, mood changes and the concern with body shape on marital satisfaction in menopausal women, as well as to analyze differences between women in different stages of menopause in the variables of the study. This is a crosssectional design study, with 124 female climacteric participants. The instruments to be used will be the sociodemographic questionnaire, the Menopause Representations Questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, the Body Shape Questionnaire and the Marital Life Areas Satisfaction Evaluation Scale. The results reveal that pre and peri menopausal women do not show differences compared to post-menopausal women; a greater concern with body shape is associated with worse marital satisfaction, namely in the dimension of sexuality; depressive and anxious symptoms are negatively related to marital satisfaction; representations of menopause in the dimension os consequences were positive predictors of marital satisfaction, and the dimension os identity was a negative predictor of marital satisfaction. The results of the present study may serve as a guideline for the development of menopausal health promotion programs.

Date of Award	10 Feb 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Eleonora C. V. Costa (Supervisor)