Correlation between Intermediate Determinants of Health and Experiences of Postmenopausal Women in Iran

Menopause is one of the most important health issues in women's health. Postmenopausal health problems are affected by psychosocial categories. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between intermediate determinants of health and experiences of postmenopausal women in Iran.

This is a descriptive correlational study that was carried out on 300 women referring to health centers in Mashhad city from 2018 to 2019. Sampling was performed by multi-stage and random sampling methods. Data were collected through menopausal experiences, access to health services and perceived social support, and Enrich marital satisfaction questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS 25 software by Pearson correlation coefficient and regression model. In the statistical test, a 95% factor of safety (p<0.05) was considered.

The average age of the subjects was 54.07±5.26. The averages score of marital satisfaction, access to services, social support, and women menopausal experiences were 105.76±18.30, 11.14±7.51, 58.92±15.68, and 40.47±21.83%, respectively. The results showed an inverse linear relationship between marital satisfaction and social support with women's experiences (r=-0.067; p=0.024), (r=-0.176; p=0.002). There was a significant inverse linear relationship between access to services and women's experiences in menopause (r=-0.347; p=0.001).

According to the findings, perceived support and access to services predict 15% of the variance in menopausal experiences.