Menopausa

: relação entre representações da menopausa, perda de recursos, stress laboral e bem-estar psicológico

Abstract

Menopause is seen as an important event in a woman's life, as it marks the end of fertility.Being a stage that encompasses major changes, the present study aimed to analyze the relationship between menopause representations, loss of resources, work stress and psychological well-being in menopausal women. Additionally, it is also intended to analyze the differences between premenopausal women and menopausal women in terms of psychosocial variables. Using a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical design, a convenience sample of 71 Portuguese women, in the premenopausal and menopausal stages, between 45 and 60 years of age, who completed self report questionnaires, was assembled. The instruments used were the sociodemographic questionnaire, the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Occupational Stress questionnaire– General Version, the Menopause Representations questionnaire and the Resource Conservation questionnaire. Coding and processing of data were performed in SPSS(version 25.0), as well as the entire analysis. To test the hypotheses, tests of differences in means (t-student), Pearson's correlation tests were applied and a linear regression model was also calculated. The results made it possible to verify that there are no statistically significant differences between premenopausal and menopausal women,when comparing the variables, menopause representations, loss of resources, work stress and psychological well-being. There was a negative relationship between the loss of resources and work stress with psychological well-being, moderate and strong respectively. Finally, it was found that the representations of menopause, work stress and loss of resources together significantly explain psychological well-being, that is, the set of these variables is a predictor of psychological well-being. It is important to evaluate these psychosocial variables in menopause, so that in the future it will be possible to carryout studies about them.

Date of Award	20 Mar 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Eleonora C. V. Costa (Supervisor)