Could a Midwife Leading Health Behavior Counseling Improve Self-Care of Women During Perimenopause? A Quasi-Experimental Study

BACKGROUND: Promoting the health and providing a sense of well-being in each period of a woman's life could improve her life quality and would bring lots of benefits to the community. Menopause has a remarkable impact on quality of life during the climacteric stage and the early stages of post menopause. AIMS: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a behaviour change counselling program based on the model A, which is planned in order to improve the women self-care during the climacteric stage. METHODS: The study is quasi-experimental type, conducted before and after counselling intervention, to evaluate effect of the health behaviour counselling of model 5A on self-care of 42 women aged 39-51 (during climacteric stage) in areas of general health, physical activity, nutrition, sleep, psycho-social health, body image and sexual health. After obtaining permission from the ethics of Alborz University of Medical Sciences, a clinical trial registry (IRCT2016042427557N1) was performed. RESULTS: Results of non-parametric Fridman test showed a change in score average grade of self-care before and after the health behaviour counselling in the area studied (P < 0.0001). There was a significant difference between the self-care score before counselling, and one and three months later, in all areas except body image and sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Multidimensional changes of women in climacteric stage may affect their life quality. They need more information about menopause process to manage its symptoms. Results of this study highlight more the effectiveness of health behaviour change counselling planned by emphasizing the individual's self-care level.