Menopause
is the part of natural process for every woman. When woman has her menstruation
period for the last time, it is called as menopause which is followed by
various hormone changes (National Institute on Aging, 2013). Menopause occurs
in every woman’s life after certain age leaving her unable to be pregnant
again. National Institute of Aging says that average age of woman for menopause
is around 51 and the experience of menopause is different for woman to woman.
Various health behaviors such as smoking can start the early menopause in woman.
Menopause can be viewed in different ways in different part of the world.
According to an article from BMC
Woman’s Health, the result of a research program conducted among Australian
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander shows that there is various factors
associated with the attitude, view and perception of menopause in different
cultures (Jones, Jurgenson, Katzenellenbogen, & Thomson, 2012). There is a slight variation in the experience of menopause because of
biological, social, cultural, lifestyle and socioeconomic factors that is found
in different culture. The research study also shows that there are various needs and
understanding during the transition period of woman in the menopause phase( Jones et al. , 2012). It
is completely individual experience but could be influenced by any of the
factors.
The research conducted on
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander found out that the average
menopausal age for Australian Woman was 52.9 years. Society with higher living
cost was found to have higher median age for menopause (Jones et al. , 2012). The research also indicated that people who were educated and had the knowledge of woman’s health
had different symptoms and perception which lead to improved quality of life.
Many other factors were found to be responsible for variations in menopausal
experience which includes biological and reproductive factor, psychological,
cultural and social factors. Woman who were living in rural area were found to
be far less educated and understanding about menstruation and menopause. In
their culture, it was taken as private and woman’s business (Jones et al. , 2012).
The research conducted on
Australian Indigenous women’s experience shows the huge difference between an
educated woman and a woman from rural areas about the viewpoint on menopause. Thus, it
can be generalized that there are various factors responsible for viewing
menopause in various cultures. Menopause is a natural process and woman should
embrace it as part of their life without any hesitation. It is always good to
watch out for symptoms and seek help from physicians for any unusual symptoms.
References
Jones EK, Jurgenson JR, Katzenellenbogen
JM, Thompson SC. Menopause and the influence of culture: another gap for
Indigenous Australian women? BMC Women’s Health. 2012;12:43.
doi:10.1186/1472-6874-12-43.
Menopause
| National Institute on Aging. (2013, December). Retrieved February 14, 2016,
from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/menopause
