Menopausal Symptoms and Quality of Life among Women in Otun Community of Moba Local Government Area, Ekiti State

During menopause, there is a lot of fluctuation in the hormone levels making the peri and postmenopausal women susceptible to various mental and physical disorders. There is considerably lack of awareness about the effects of the menopausal symptoms on women in Otun community. A high percentage of menopausal and perimenopausal women suffer symptoms that deteriorate their quality of life (QoL) significantly. With this background, this study was carried out in a rural area of Moba local government with the objective to assess the impact of menopausal symptoms and the quality of life of women in Otun community of Moba local government area, Ekiti State. This study utilized cross-sectional method conducted among 192 menopausal women selected using Multi stage sampling technique. The data-collection tools adopted were the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). Data were analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) version 28. Each of the research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation coefficient at 0.05 level of significance. Findings show that most of the participants had a moderate experience of menopausal symptoms (69.8%). It was also revealed that age, educational status, occupation and age at menopause had a positive correlation with menopausal symptoms with correlation coefficient of (age = 0.591, marital status= .328, educational status = .134, occupation = .062 and age at menopause= .391 ) but were statistically significant (age= p<0.05, t= 15.311, marital status= p<0.05, t=-8.107; educational status= p<0.05, t=-3.984;occupation=p<0.05, t=0.87 and age of menopause = p<0.05, t=10.311). The study concluded that difficulty sleeping, aching in muscles and joint, changes in sexual desire, low back pain, hot flushes, and flatulence were the most severe menopausal symptoms experienced by these women.

Keyword: Menopause, Menopausal symptoms, Quality of life (Qol), Women,