An Experimental Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Soyabeans on Menopausal Symptoms among Post-Menopausal Women at Selected Area of Hubballi

Background: Transition of menopause is related to different physical and mental changes that may affect women’s health. A growing range of complementary and alternative medicines have flooded the market and are commonly used to treat problems with menopause. Hence it has been contributed to the widespread use of non-hormonal soy therapies to treat menopausal symptoms with clinical proof of their effectiveness.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Soyabeans on menopausal symptoms in post-menopausal women in terms of alleviation menopausal symptoms.

Methodology: An evaluative study was conducted among 20 post-menopausal women of selected areas of Hubballi. The research design used for the study was pre-experimental; one group pre-test, post-test design. Samples were selected by using non-probability: convenient sampling. Structured interview schedule was used for obtaining the post-menopausal symptoms.

Results: The study results revealed that most of the subjects in pre-test, 16(80%) had severe symptoms and 04(20%) had moderate symptoms where after administration of soyabean juice in post-test, majority of the subjects 10(50%) had moderate symptoms, 08(40%) had mild symptoms and 02(10%) had severe symptoms. In regards with level of menopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women, in pre-test the mean score (34.3±1.73) which was 62.36% for the area of physiological symptoms and mean score (23.5±1.36) was for the area of psychological symptoms which was 59%. Whereas during post-test, the mean score (24.8±1.98) for physiological symptoms which was 45.09% and mean score (14.7±1.55) for psychological symptoms which was 37%. With regards to Comparison of mean and standard deviation of post-menopausal symptoms using paired ‘t’ test, the calculated’ value t=19* was greater than the tabulated value (tab= 1.729) at the level of p<0.05. This showed there was a significance differences between pre-test and post-test mean scores of post-menopausal symptoms. Hence it was concluded that the soyabean has significantly reduced post-menopausal symptoms. Therefore, H₁ was accepted. With regard to statistical association, there was no statistical association between pre-test scores regarding the level of symptoms among post-menopausal women with their selected socio-demographical variables. Hence H₂ was rejected.

Conclusion: The study concludes that intervention using soyabean juice was an effective in elevating post-menopausal symptoms and thus improving the quality of women’s life.