DIFFERENCES IN CLIMACTERIC WOMEN'S USE OF ESTROGEN REPLACEMENT THERAPY USING HEALTH BELIEF CONSTRUCTS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATION TO MENOPAUSE.
Contributors: Indiana University School of Nursing.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 168
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The Health Belief Model (HBM) provided the theoretical framework for the investigation of climacteric women's use of Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT). According to the model's central premise, women's perceptions regarding their susceptibility to menopausal problems, the seriousness of menopausal problems, the benefits of ERT, and the barriers to ERT were expected to predict their use or nonuse of the therapy. The construct, Philosophical Orientation to Menopause (POM), which measured women's views of menopause ranging from deficiency disease to normal development, was added to enhance the HBM's ability to account for ERT use.

A convenience sample of 252 women was obtained. Health beliefs were measured by scales adapted from Champion's (1983) work. POM items were developed and tested by the investigator in prior pilot study.

Construct validity was demonstrated by factor analysis for the susceptibility, seriousness, and POM scales. However, benefits and barriers functioned in combination rather than independently. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from.72 to.93. MANCOVA analysis demonstrated that, after controlling for perceived levels of menopausal distress, current users had significantly stronger perceptions of susceptibility to and seriousness of menopausal problems, of ERT's benefits, and of menopause as a medical event than did nonusers. MANOVA analysis indicated there were no significant differences in beliefs of users and nonusers due to climacteric status or its interaction with ERT use. Eta squared values indicated that the combination of HBM and POM variables accounted for 30% of the variance in ERT use. The greatest success at accounting for variance was achieved by the individual benefits/barriers and POM variables.

Conclusions were that HBM constructs functioned both in combination and individually to explain ERT use, women's decision making about ERT is based largely on their perceptions of its benefits weighed against its barriers, and the addition of the POM construct enhanced the HBM's ability to account for ERT use. Based on these conclusions, nurses can assist women in making informed choices by providing current and reliable information about both the benefits and costs involved in ERT.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-10, Section: B, page: 4233.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1988.

School code: 0815.