Beliefs, attitudes, and health practices concerning menopause among Vietnamese-American women: A descriptive qualitative stud

Menopause, a period which marks the permanent cessation of menstrual activity, has been viewed as a universal transition and a milestone in the aging process of women. Despite menopause being a normal period of life, many women often have physiological or psychological symptoms as a result of the estrogen deficiency that occurs from menopause due to ovarian failure. Individual differences exist regarding beliefs, attitudes, and management of menopause when symptoms occur that are often impacted by culture. While some women perceive menopause as a normal life transition between childbearing phase and senescence, others view menopause as a disease or an aging process that needs medical interventions and various coping mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the beliefs, attitudes, and health practices concerning menopause among Vietnamese-American women living in Southern California. It is estimated that 40 million American women will experience menopause in the next decades with nearly 4 million (10%) of them of different minority racial/ ethnic groups. The Vietnamese population in California estimated to exceed 1,750,000 by the year 2030, making it the largest Asian-Pacific Islander ethnic population in this state. Little is known about the beliefs, attitudes, and health practices concerning menopause of this growing population. To meet the study's purpose, ten Vietnamese-American women living in Southern California, between the ages of 45 and 69, were recruited from a Vietnamese primary care clinic using purposive sampling. An eight-item semi-structured interview guide and an 11 demographic questionnaire in both Vietnamese and English languages were used for data collection. A modified version of Kleinman's Explanatory Model was used as a framework for the inquiry. Attitudes regarding menopause were positive and most women felt that menopause was a normal life event due to aging. Symptoms differed among the participants with most reporting weight gain, hot flashes, forgetfulness, mood swing, and decrease sex drive and when experienced, the many of the women self-treated using complementary and alternative approaches without the use of prescribed medications. Despite their self-treatment of symptoms, most women wanted more information from their healthcare providers regarding menopause ad symptom management. The study findings indicate the importance of discussing menopause with Vietnamese-American women and providing culturally-sensitive approaches when need to improve outcomes.