[Sexuality in the climateric period: situations experienced by women]

Descriptive study aimed at identifying the aspects that women, cared for at a Service of Gynecology and Obstetrics, consider positive and negative in exercising their sexuality in the climacteric phase. Data was collected through individual interviews, using the technique of critical incidents. The 45 women that were interviewed mentioned 86 situations, of which 41 (47.7 percent) were considered positive and 45 (52.3 percent) negative. The situations were classified in three categories: relationship with a partner, intercourse and the woman as a social being. The results showed that these women gave priority to the quality of the relationship and to the demonstration of emotion in a romantic context. They highlighted their dissatisfaction with their self-image and with the existence of sexual dominance of the men over women. The study made possible a wider understanding regarding the climacteric period, thus offering subsidies for an assistance to women's health that contemplates the sexual dimension.