Research Article
Khadija Kahlout; Aymen Elsous; Aseel Alshorafa; Mariam Ghazal; Rima Yaghi; Ezat Askari
Abstract
Background: Menopause is accompanied with symptoms that could be bothersome to the point that quality of life can be affected. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and quality of life among women in their peri- and post-menopausal phase.Methods: This quantitative ...
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Background: Menopause is accompanied with symptoms that could be bothersome to the point that quality of life can be affected. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and quality of life among women in their peri- and post-menopausal phase.Methods: This quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted from February to August 2022 on 332 peri-menopausal (n=162) and post-menopausal (n=170) women aged 45-55 years. They were recruited from the women who visited primary health centers in the East Gaza governorate using convenience sampling. The menopausal rating scale and a validated Arabic World Health Organization Quality of life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) were used. Descriptive and inferential analysis were applied and P<0.05 was considered as the level of statistical significance.Results: The mean (SD) of the Menopausal Rating Scale (MRS) score was 2.27±0.49 vs 1.90±0.55 in the post-menopausal and peri-menopausal women, respectively. The most prevalent symptom was joint and muscle problems in peri-menopause (45.7%) and post-menopause (67.6%). The mean score of Quality of Life (QoL) dimensions, namely physical, social, environmental, and psychological domains was lower among the post-menopausal women compared to that among the peri-menopausal ones (3.19±0.73 vs 3.44±0.80, 3.46±0.72 vs 3.62±0.71, 3.50±0.60 vs 3.52±0.62, and 3.59±0.75 vs 3.68±0.77, respectively). Quality of life as well as the associated physical and social aspects were found to be significantly associated with menopausal symptoms (P=0.003 and P=0.048, respectively). Age (51–55 years; P<0.001), marital status (widowed/divorced; P=0.044), income (<300USD; P<0.001), and post-menopausal status (P<0.001) were significantly associated with severity of menopausal symptoms.Conclusions: Menopausal symptoms are common in the post-menopausal status. Their severity was found to increase as menopause status progressed. Psychological symptoms were the most severe symptoms reflecting the need for proper psychological supporting efforts. Menopausal symptoms with severe manifestations impair the quality of life and are associated with socio-demographic and clinical variables.
Research Article
Mahin Tahvilian; Elham Foroozandeh; Seyed Mostafa Banitaba
Abstract
Background: Marital conflicts can exacerbate anxiety, depression, and stress in couples and adversely affect their psychological well-being. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of psychodrama and cognitive-behavioral therapy on the psychological well-being of women with marital conflicts.
Methods: ...
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Background: Marital conflicts can exacerbate anxiety, depression, and stress in couples and adversely affect their psychological well-being. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of psychodrama and cognitive-behavioral therapy on the psychological well-being of women with marital conflicts.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, follow-up study with a control group. The statistical population included all the married women with marital conflicts referring to the counseling departments of cultural centers in Isfahan Municipality in 2021. Sixty women were selected as the sample by cluster sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychodrama) and a control group (20 participants per group). The first experimental group underwent twelve 180-minute sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy, while the second experimental group received twelve 180-minute sessions of psychodrama. To collect data, Psychological Well-Being Scale was used. Data analysis was performed through repeated measures ANOVA.
Results: According to the results, these two methods affected the psychological well-being components of the women with marital conflicts (P<0.001). The mean±SD of psychological well-being in the post-test and follow-up stages was respectively 61.05±8.35 and 60.10±8.95 in the cognitive-behavioral therapy, and 46.15±5.87 and 45.00±5.17 in the control group. Moreover, the mean±SD of psychological well-being in the post-test and follow-up stages was respectively 65.80±7.54 and 64.67±8.22 in the psychodrama group. The results also revealed that the components of psychological well-being in the women with marital conflicts in the two experimental groups in the post-test and follow-up stages had a significant increase compared to those in the pre-test stage (P<0.001). The two methods were significantly different only in terms of the effects on environmental mastery (P<0.001). Psychodrama was found to be more effective than cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Conclusions: Psychodrama and cognitive-behavioral therapy can result in positive outcomes, such as improving psychological well-being in couples therapy and marital relationships. Therefore, the use of these two interventions could be recommended to psychotherapists for improving the psychological well-being of women with marital conflicts.
Research Article
James Forty
Abstract
Background: Population growth is considered a problem in Malawi, Africa and fertility is reportedly a key factor in the growth of this population. The subject of studies on fertility-related factors has been period fertility rather than lifetime fertility. However, period fertility is reported to be ...
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Background: Population growth is considered a problem in Malawi, Africa and fertility is reportedly a key factor in the growth of this population. The subject of studies on fertility-related factors has been period fertility rather than lifetime fertility. However, period fertility is reported to be associated with a tempo effect and therefore may not represent lifetime fertility accurately. The present study; therefore, examined whether age at first marriage or birth has an effect on lifetime fertility in Malawi, as it is the case with period fertility.
Methods: Secondary data from the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey were used for this study. The study was conducted from October 2015 to February 2016 and surveyed 24562 women of reproductive age (15-49 years). The research was limited to a subsample of 3583 women because the focus of this paper is on women aged 40-49 years. The number of children ever born was used to determine fertility. Analysis of variance and Poisson regression model were used as statistical tests. The multivariable association between the number of children ever born and the independent variables was predicted using the Poisson regression model, while the bivariate relationship was calculated using analysis of variance.
Results: The results of the bivariate analysis showed that age of first cohabitation (P=0.01) and age of first birth (P=0.01) were strongly associated with total number of births. Both unadjusted and adjusted Poisson regression models showed significant associations for multivariable outcomes. Accordingly, the number of children ever born was significantly associated with the following variables: an adjusted model with age of 26 years and older as the reference category, beginning cohabitation (AIRR=1.09, P=0.04) or first birth (AIRR=1.61, P=0.03) at age younger than 18 years; cohabitation (AIRR=1.09, P=0.04) or first birth (AIRR=1.48, P=0.03) at age of 18 to 21 years.
Conclusions: Based on the findings of the study, the study recommends stakeholders to support household income-generating capacity, expand access to education for both boys and girls, and maintain the use of modern contraceptives.
