Explanation of the Educational Needs Related to Women's Health During Menopausal Period: A Qualitative Study

Background: Menopause is one of a woman's most crucial life stages. Identifying menopause's educational needs is critical. Objective: This study aims to explain the educational needs of women during menopause. Methods: The current study employs a qualitative content analysis method. The study included 12 women around menopause who were referred to Fatemieh Hospital's menopause clinic in Hamadan in 2020 and seven midwives. Individual semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used to collect data for the study. Data analysis was performed by Cheevakumjon method and conceptual content analysis was used to extract the concepts. After reading the text of the data, key sentences and concepts were derived and finally categorized. Results: The mean age of menopausal women and midwives was 54.15±4.24 and 34.35±3.54 years, respectively. In this study, three main themes were found in each of the perspectives of menopausal women (educational needs, expectations from the health system, expectations from others) and midwives (effective factors in the successful implementation of programs related to the health of menopausal women, obstacles and challenges of successful program implementation, strategies to increase program performance) regarding health needs related to menopause. The experiences of postmenopausal women had 3 themes, 4 categories and 15 subcategories and midwives' point of view was also divided into 3 themes and 5 categories and 14 sub categories. Conclusion: In order to manage the challenges of menopause, education and counseling are needed regarding the physical, mental, psychological and social changes that menopausal women may face. Moreover, to achieve these goals, there is a need for comprehensive support from the relevant politicians.