S Khademi1, M S Cooke. 1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles County Medical Center,1200 North State Street, Room 3550, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. sarakhademi@yahoo.com
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to compare the attitudes of urban and rural Iranian women toward menopause. The socio-cultural context of urban Tehranian women is considerably more westernized than that of rural Semiromian women. Our original hypothesis was that urban Tehranian women would have a more negative outlook on menopause than rural women. This hypothesis was drawn from previous work implicating the youth-oriented culture of the west as responsible for the negative attitude of western women toward menopause. METHODS: A questionnaire with eight questions regarding major psychosocial issues that are of importance to menopausal women was prepared and administered to a group of 70 Tehranian and 49 Semiromian women. RESULTS: In contrast to the initial hypothesis, analysis revealed that rural Iranian women have a more negative attitude towards menopause than urban Iranian women. CONCLUSION: The more negative attitude of the rural women toward menopause in large part reflected the higher priority they placed on fertility than did their urban counterparts. Further, cross-cultural studies will illuminate exactly which social and cultural factors play a role in both the physical and psychological aspects of menopause.
OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to compare the attitudes of urban and rural Iranian women toward menopause. The socio-cultural context of urban Tehranian women is considerably more westernized than that of rural Semiromian women. Our original hypothesis was that urban Tehranian women would have a more negative outlook on menopause than rural women. This hypothesis was drawn from previous work implicating the youth-oriented culture of the west as responsible for the negative attitude of western women toward menopause. METHODS: A questionnaire with eight questions regarding major psychosocial issues that are of importance to menopausal women was prepared and administered to a group of 70 Tehranian and 49 Semiromian women. RESULTS: In contrast to the initial hypothesis, analysis revealed that rural Iranian women have a more negative attitude towards menopause than urban Iranian women. CONCLUSION: The more negative attitude of the rural women toward menopause in large part reflected the higher priority they placed on fertility than did their urban counterparts. Further, cross-cultural studies will illuminate exactly which social and cultural factors play a role in both the physical and psychological aspects of menopause.
Authors: M Yazdkhasti; M Keshavarz; Es Merghaati Khoei; Af Hosseini; S Esmaeilzadeh; M Amiri Pebdani; H Jafarzadeh Journal: Iran J Public Health Date: 2012-11-01 Impact factor: 1.429