The effect of perceived social supports on menopausal approaches and complains to women in climacteric period

Objective: The aim of this study is to analyse the effects of social support on the menopausal complaints and the approaches of women towards menopause in the climacteric women. Material and Method: The study population consists of women aged 45-65 years who applied to Manisa CBU Hafsa Sultan Hospital for any reason. The sample size is calculated by using the formula used in cases where the number of individuals to be sampled is unknown, 384 women has included to study. These women are selected by the method of simple random sample. 'Characteristics of Women Questionnaire', 'Menopause Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS)', 'Women's Perspective on Menopause Questionnaire' and 'Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MPSSS)' were used in the data collection phase. Number, percentage, Pearson Correlation Analysis, One-Way ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis tests were used with SPSS 15.0 for Windows statistical analysis program for the analysis of data. Results: Overall, 38,3% of the women participating in the research were in the age range of 45-50 years and the mean age of women was found as 52,7 ± 4.6. It is determined that 57,3% of the women were primary school graduates, 80,5% were unemployed and 54,7% of them have middle income level. When the relation between symptoms of the menopause, and effects of menopause to family life and social relationship of women; it was determined that menopausal symptoms were more common in women who thought that menopause had a negative effect on the relationship with husband, child and environment (p<0,05). It was found that, women who had social support, accept menopause as a natural process, believe that it doesn't affect feminine aspects, feel less anxious and nervous, not to lose interest to life and are happy to be in menopausal period (p<0,05). It was identified that increasing of perceived social support of women help to reduce menopausal symptoms both in physically and psychologically (p<0,05). In addition, women who had positive approach to menopause had less menopausal complaints than women who had negative approach to menopause. Conclusion: It could be say that social support, especially family support, reduces the complaint of menopause in the women and have positive effect on their menopausal approaches. Key words: Menopause, Perceived social support, Menopausal complaints, Menopausal approach.