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Experiencing menopause in the UK: The interrelated narratives of normality, distress, and transformation

Isabel de Salis1, Amanda Owen-Smith1, Jenny L Donovan1

  • 1a School of Social and Community Medicine , University of Bristol , Bristol , UK.

Journal of Women & Aging
|November 3, 2017
PubMed

We investigated the experience and perspectives of menopause among 48 UK mothers through qualitative in-depth interviews. Interviews were analyzed thematically then explored using social science theories. Three interdependent narratives emerged: menopause as a normal, biological process, distinct from self and social transitions; menopause as struggle, an "idiom of distress" expressing upset, identity loss, shame, and social upheaval; and menopause as transformative and liberating, arising from biopsychic and relational changes. Some women followed a predictable "rite of passage" trajectory with transformation emerging from distress, but not all: Menopause arises from a complex interplay of personal predicament, somatic change, and sociocultural context.

Keywords:
Idiom of distressUKin-depth interviewsmenopausequalitative researchrite of passagetransformationwomen’s health

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