Abstract

• Purpose
  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.
• Methods
  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.
• Results
  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.
• Conclusion
  These findings indicate that nurses must consider the menopasusal stage when counseling their patients.
• Keywords: Menopause; Health; Body image; Sexual function; Depression

Figure & Data

REFERENCES

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by