Knowledge, Attitude and Associated Factors of Women Aged 30-49 Years Towards Menopause In Gulele Sub-City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Creators: name: Eshetu, Natnael
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2015

description: Background: Menopause is a process which typically occurs during the ages of 45 and 55 and is marked by a reduction in estrogen and progesterone levels and eventual cessation of menstruation. Appropriate understanding of the menopausal phenomenon among women regarding physical, mental, social and psychological changes that occur during menopause will help women to cope with menopausal changes with greater readiness. Knowledge and attitude of menopausal phenomenon are greatly influenced by social, cultural and economic settings and may influence the method of treatment for menopausal symptoms. In Ethiopia, health policies and programs give much emphasis on women's health promotion but given less emphasis for menopause phenomena and few studies have been conducted in the field of investigating women's knowledge and attitude towards menopause and its associated factors. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess level of knowledge and attitude of women aged 30-49 years towards menopause in Gulele sub-city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from April 26 to May 10, 2015. Methods: A cross-sectional community based study was conducted on a sample of 586 mothers aged 30-49 years in Gulele sub-city of Addis Ababa Ethiopia using multi-stage sampling method. Data on knowledge status of mothers regrinding menopause, attitude of mothers towards menopause and other pertinent variables were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaires. The gathered data analysis was done by the software SPSS version 20. The association between knowledge, and attitude towards menopause and the independent variables was investigated using binary logistic regression model. Results: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of natural menopause is 8.9 %. Out of 568 respondents 63.3% knew about the age of menopause and 72.2% knew menopause occurs due to decrease in sexual hormones. Respondents, 68.3%, believed that menopause is a usual and natural phenomenon in women's life and 55.1% perceived menopause as the beginning of the period of women's disablement. Regarding the level of knowledge, 15.7% had poor knowledge, 61.8% had moderate knowledge and 22.5% had good knowledge. On the other hand, 84% of the women had a positive attitude towards menopause. The study showed that there is a significant association between knowledge about menopause and having information about menopause [Adjusted OR = 0.143 (95%CI: 0.073, 0.281)] and economic status [Adjusted OR = 0.369 (95%CI: 0.192, 0.710)]. There is also a significant association between attitude and economic status (lower economic status [Adjusted OR = 0.11 (95%CI: 0.044, 0.275)], and medium economic status [Adjusted OR = 0.217 (95%CI: 0.085, 0.55)]), having information about menopause [Adjusted OR = 0.143 (95%CI: 0.196, 0.566)] and age (30-34) group [Adjusted OR = 0.203 (95%CI: 0.089, 0.463)]. Conclusions and recommendations: knowledge and attitude of women's towards menopause was found low and positive in this study respectively. The relationship between knowledge and economic status; and the source of information was found to be significant. There was also a significant association between attitude and economic status; the source of information; and age. Federal Ministry of health, Addis Ababa Health bureau and the mass media should disseminate appropriate information concerning menopause to raise the knowledge of women. Health professional should manage menopause as one-phenomenon rather than treating it as an individual symptoms.