The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of health perception, body image and sexual function on depression according to the menopausal stage in Korean middle aged women.

Subjects were 182 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women who had not received hormonal replacement therapy. A five-item General HealthShort Form (SF-36) Health Survey Questionnaire (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992) was used to measure health perception. Body image was measured Semantic Differential scale, CES-D was used to measure the level of depression, and sexual function was measured by FSFI.

The subjects rated their health as ‘moderate’, their body image as ‘moderate, and level of depression as ‘high’. However, there were no significant differences in health perception, body image, and depression between perimenopasual and postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women experienced lower levels of sexual function than perimenopausal women in sexual arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. In stepwise regression analysis, 21.7% of variance in depression was shown to be perceived health and body image in postmenopausal women. However, in perimenopausal women, perceived health and sexual function explained 34.5% of variance in depression.

These findings indicate that nurses must consider the menopasusal stage when counseling their patients.