Self-care during Menopause

The World Health Organization defines menopause as the permanent cessation of menstruation due to the loss of ovarian follicular activity or follicle depletion, affecting all women who reach mid-life. Within an ageing society, 6 million women enter menopause annually worldwide and spend a third or more of their lives in menopause. The diagnosis of menopause is made retrospectively (12 consecutive months of amenorrhea in the absence of physiological or pathological cause) and is often preceded by a period of menstrual irregularity and hormonal fluctuations lasting on average four years: the perimenopause. Perimenopause is a complex transition marked by dynamic changes in hormone levels and reproductive function that interact with the aging process, and is often associated with unpleasant and uncomfortable vasomotor symptoms (VMS; hot flashes and night sweats), but also with urinary (e.g., urinary infections and incontinence) and sexual symptoms (e.g., vaginal dryness, sexual dysfunction, decreased libido), sleep disturbances, fatigue, and mood changes, with negative impact on women’s mental health and quality of life and high socioeconomic burden. Midlife women continue to have important productivity and caregiver roles (e.g., of their aging parents), being crucial to promote their mental health and quality of life during perimenopause and early post-menopause, ensuring that they continue to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Within this project, we will rely on the benefits of ehealth tools (e.g., accessibility flexibility, privacy, lower costs) and on the established efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT], including for perimenopausal symptoms, to develop a self-guided mobile-based CBT intervention to promote women’s mental health and quality of life during perimenopause and early post-menopause. To our knowledge, this will be the first ehealth tool targeting perimenopausal women in general, and its self-guided nature will allow its large-scale implementation. We will conduct a formative evaluation process, which consists in a set of studies with the relevant stakeholders (end-users and health professionals), that will inform the structure, therapeutic goals, content, and technological features of the mobile-based CBT intervention. This project is aligned with the UN2030 agenda for sustainable development (Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing; Goal 5: Gender Equality; Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities).