a survey on women’s knowledge about menopause in rasht

a survey on women’s knowledge about menopause in rasht sh seyam msc received: 23 july, 2009 accepted: 17 oct, 2009 abstract background & aims: menopause is a natural period of life that means permanent cessation of menstruation and end of fertility period. menopause is an important phenomenon in any women’s life. the aim of this research was to determine the knowledge of women about signs and symptoms of menopause in rasht. materials & methods: this descriptive and cross sectional study was performed in rasht on 700 female residents living in different parts of rasht for more than twenty years. the samples were selected randomly. the collection of data and information was by a questionnaire combined with interviews. then the findings and results were analyzed with chi-square test. results: of the total study population about 57.57 % had less knowledge, 30.72 %average knowledge, 11.71 % more knowledge about symptoms and complications of menopause. the women who had selfstudy about the signs and symptoms were in the age group of 20-29. the women of 40-49 years of age had the least knowledge. 95.14 % of the subjects believed that being training via media is necessary. conclusion: this study showed that the knowledge and awareness of women about signs and complications of menopause is less than what was expected. it is suggested that women receive special educational programs. key words: knowledge, women, menopause, signs and complications address: biology department, guilan university of medical sciences, rast, iran tel: (+98131)3223021 email: sh _ seyam@ yahoo.com