EVALUATION OF STRESS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

Abstract

<p>ABSTRACT<br />Background: Menopause is a stage in life when a woman stops having her monthly period. It is a normal part of aging and marks the end of a woman’s<br />reproductive years. The age of menopause varies from 45 to 50 years. In some woman, the age of menopause may be 51 or 52 years.<br />Aim: This study aims to evaluate the stress and its influence on quality of life (QOL) in postmenopausal women in selected areas, Kattankulathur<br />Block, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.<br />Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected areas in Kattankulathur Block, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. After initial screening, simple<br />random sampling technique was adopted to select the study participants. The total sample size comprised 130 postmenopausal women. Assessments<br />were made by Sheldon Cohen’s, the Perceived Stress Scale for assessing the stress level of postmenopausal women and the World Health Organization<br />QOL-BREF Scale for assessing their QOL.<br />Results: This study showed that the majority of postmenopausal women 90 (70.4%) had very high level of stress. Maximum of postmenopausal<br />women 56 (44%) had very poor QOL, and 59 (46%) were very dissatisfied about their health status. The lower mean scores were found in physical,<br />psychological, social, and environment domain among postmenopausal women. There was moderate negative correlation found between stress and<br />QOL among postmenopausal women. It shows that, when the stress was increased, poor QOL was experienced by postmenopausal women.<br />Conclusion: This study results showed that the majority of postmenopausal women 90 (70.4%) had very high level of stress which negatively affected<br />the QOL of postmenopausal women.<br />Keywords: Stress, Quality of life, Postmenopausal women.</p>