Women Coping Strategies towards Menopause and its Relationship with Sexual Dysfunction

BACKGROUND: Paying attention to sexual dysfunction and its coping strategies is essential owing to its impact on mental health in postmenopausal women and their families. This study aimed to determine the relationship between women coping strategies toward the process of menopause and sexual dysfunction in menopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in which 233 married menopausal women were sampled in the first 5 years after cessation of menstrual cycle using health records in the health centers in Isfahan in 2015. The method of data collection was a demographic characteristics form, sexual function questionnaire of Rosen et al., along with a researcher-made coping strategies questionnaire. The validity and reliability of these instruments were assessed, and the resulting data were analyzed utilizing inferential statistical tests (t-test and Chi-square test) and SPSS 16 software. RESULTS: According to the results of this study, the relative frequency of sexual dysfunction in menopausal women is 67.42%. The mean score of the avoidance strategy in people with overall sexual dysfunction was significantly higher than the group without disorder (P < 0.001). The mean of coping strategies of social support seeking (P < 0.001), problem-solving (P = 0.016), and target replacement strategy (P = 0.004) were significantly lower than that in the group without disorder. CONCLUSIONS: In line with the findings of this study, problem-oriented strategies such as social support, problem solving, and target replacement are the best strategies for decreasing sexual dysfunction or increasing sexual satisfaction. These results emphasize the reinforcement of health personnel skills in teaching approach of these strategies to this group of women.