THE PERSPECTIVE OF ASIAN WOMEN TOWARDS MENOPAUSE: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Perspective towards menopause is different among women in the world. Their perspectives are based on their faith in reproductive values, language used in describing and discussing menopause, strong cultural impacts, various knowledge level, and holistic perspectives combining spiritual, intellectual, physical, and emotional dimensions. Menopause period which is not handled properly by a good comprehension level will decrease life quality. The Systematic Literature Review aimed to investigate the length of perspectives on menopause according to Asian women related to sociocultural and spiritual aspects. The Systematic Literature Review employed the PubMed database from 2008 – 2018. From 1758 articles that had been identified, 10 articles were fulfilling the criteria of inclusion. The roles of culture in menopausal women's perspective had a great impact on women's lives and the roles of spirituality on menopause play an important role in every Asian women's act. It is also revealed that the development of health service especially for menopausal women in Asia had been made and thus, there were still many women who had not been empowered in their menopausal period. There were still many Asian women who had not possessed awareness and knowledge on menopause physiology. The culture regards that it was a taboo to discuss menopausal complaints and thus, it created fear of negative stigmatization from the environment. The role of health and family support personnel is needed in the menopause period.

Keywords: perspective, asian women, menopause