Liao K L, Hunter M S
Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London, UK.
Maturitas. 1998 Jun 17;29(3):215-24. doi: 10.1016/s0378-5122(98)00033-4.
Many women approach menopause with uncertainty about what will happen and how to deal with changes that occur. The current study aimed to evaluate the short-term outcome of a health education intervention devised to prepare 45-year old women in general practices. One hundred and seventy-eight 45-year old women registered at five general practices in south London were targeted for the research; 106 of the women responded and 86 of these women formed a usable pre-menopausal sample which was randomly allocated to the preparation intervention and control conditions. Preparation involved two health education sessions carried out in small groups and covering information and discussion of the normal menopause transition in the context of mid-life. The women completed pre- and post-intervention (3 and 15 months) questionnaires which assessed knowledge and beliefs about menopause and a number of health-related behaviours. Knowledge improved significantly at the follow-up assessments for the preparation group but not for the control group. On the whole, the prepared women's beliefs about menopause became less negative following the intervention, although there were also some changes reported by the control group. The proportion of smokers decreased from 25 to 20% for the prepared women although this did not reach statistical significance. There was no change in the prevalence of regular exercise. There was also a decrease in the intention to take hormonal treatments following the intervention. Suggestions for further development of health promotion services for mid-aged women and more holistic health care practices are proposed.
许多女性在进入更年期时，对将会发生什么以及如何应对出现的变化感到不确定。当前的研究旨在评估一项健康教育干预措施的短期效果，该措施旨在让普通诊所中45岁的女性做好准备。研究目标是伦敦南部五家普通诊所登记的178名45岁女性；其中106名女性做出了回应，这些女性中的86名组成了一个可用的绝经前样本，该样本被随机分配到准备干预组和对照组。准备工作包括以小组形式开展的两次健康教育课程，内容涵盖中年时期正常绝经过渡的信息及讨论。这些女性完成了干预前（3个月）和干预后（15个月）的问卷，问卷评估了她们对更年期的知识和信念以及一些与健康相关的行为。在准备组的随访评估中，知识水平显著提高，但对照组没有。总体而言，尽管对照组也报告了一些变化，但经过干预后，准备组女性对更年期的信念变得不那么消极了。准备组女性的吸烟比例从25%降至20%，不过这未达到统计学显著性。定期锻炼的流行率没有变化。干预后服用激素治疗的意愿也有所下降。文中还为中年女性健康促进服务的进一步发展以及更全面的医疗保健实践提出了建议。
