The relationship between management strategies for menopausal symptoms and women’s decision making styles during menopausal transition

INTRODUCTION: Considering the importance of identifying the factors affecting women’s decision making process about the management of menopausal symptoms, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relation between decision making styles and women’s chosen options for management of menopausal symptoms. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2016 to July 2018 in Gonabad, north east of Iran.Using the cluster sampling method 473 women between 45 and 60 years old were recruited to the study. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, a menopause symptom treatment options questionnaire, the Menopause Rating Scale and the Decision Making Styles Questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 16 as well as descriptive and analytical statistics; a p-value of< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 51.6 ±4.6 years old and the majority of them (85.5%) were housewives. The most popular menopause symptom treatment option was hormone replacement therapy. The majority of participants (45.4%, 228 people) used an avoidant decision making style. There was no statistically significant difference between menopausal symptom treatment options and decision making styles type(p = 0.525). There was a statistically significant difference between severity of menopausal symptoms and type of decision making style (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed that there was no significant relation between the selected method to manage menopausal symptoms and women’s decision making styles. It is recommended that this study be conducted on a population that has greater access to all menopausal symptom treatment options.