Barriers to Middle-Aged Women’s Mental Health: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Middle-aged women encounter some barriers to their mental health, putting them at great risk for developing mental disorders. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore barriers to middle-aged women’s mental health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a qualitative content analysis study conducted in 2013 in Kashan, Iran. A purposive, maximum variation sample of 23 middle-aged women was recruited to the study. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured individual interviews. We employed the conventional qualitative content analysis approach for data analysis. RESULTS: Barriers to middle-aged women’s mental health fell into two main themes including ‘increased life concerns’ and ‘physical and psychological tensions’. The two sub-categories of the first theme included having mental concerns and increased burden of roles. The second main theme also consisted of two categories including perceived undesirable physical changes and perceived undesirable psychological changes. CONCLUSIONS: Experiences of middle-aged women showed that culturally appropriate interventions to alleviate the concerns of life, physical and mental stress is essential to preserve stability of mental health.