Needs of women in menopause

The bachelor's work deals with the issues of menopause and changes, which take place in a woman's life in connection with it. The work is divided into a theoretical and a research part. At the beginning of the theoretical part there is a definition of the term "menopause", which is followed by the definition of the physiology of this period and hormonal changes which come up in the course of menopause. An integral part of the theoretical section is the description of climacteric syndrome, both organic estrogen deficiency syndrome and metabolic estrogen deficiency syndrome. Another important part of the work is the therapy of menopause, which is focused both on hormonal therapy and alternative one. Subsequently, the bachelor's work describes the needs of woman, not only in the period of menopause. This part of the work pays great attention especially to the issues of sleep, physical exercise, nutrition and sexuality, which are the aspects that undergo the greatest changes in this significant period in a woman's life. The theoretical part also points out education. First, the general term "education" is described, and the end of the theoretical part is dedicated to education during menopause, which is carried out by a midwife. The goal of the bachelor's work was to find out whether menopause influenced the lives of women. Two research questions were asked: How are the needs of women being altered during menopause? How are women educated by a midwife during menopause? Qualitative investigations were utilized for the research. The gathering of data was carried out through semi-structured interviews. In the course of an interview, women were asked 11 questions prepared in advance. The research group was composed of ten women passing through menopause. The interviews with the women were conducted in the surgery of a district gynaecologist, who had provided her consent to the research investigation in writing beforehand. The women were informed that they would remain in anonymity, were familiarized with the purpose of the research and all the respondents were willing to sign an "Application for Consent to Cooperation." The research investigation took place in March 2015. The interviews with the women were continuously written down, recorded and subsequently analysed. Based on the answers acquired they were divided into main categories and subcategories, by means of marking the texts in colour, the aim being to ascertain agreements in the opinions of the women asked and their experience. The first main category inquired into how the women felt at the beginning of menopause. This category was divided into five subcategories, which dealt with the beginning of menopause, changed needs, lifestyle, health risks associated with menopause and therapy of menopause. The second category was focused on education by a midwife and was divided into three subcategories: Familiarization with the problem, Recommendations of a midwife relating to menopause and Source of information. The results showed in which areas the women were influenced by menopause most. Most frequently the women were troubled by hot flushes and sweating, which were the causes of insomnia and tiredness. Due to menopause the women identified the greatest changes in the following areas: need of social interaction, which was caused by their unpleasant feelings because of hot flushes and sweating, need to eat, need of sleep and rest and need of physical exercise. The research investigation pointed out an ineffective education on the part of the midwife, who was without any personal initiative she failed in her task to acquaint the women with this hard period of life and to help them manage the symptoms of menopause. The bachelor's work pointed out the areas in which changes occurred after menopause had began, and also pointed out an insufficient education of the women by the midwife