Health Education Programmes for Supporting Older Women's Adaptation to Menopause in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State

The study examined health education programmes for supporting older women’s adaptation to menopause in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State. The study was guided by three objectives and three research questions. The descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study with a population of 912 older women (executives) and health officers in all the registered Community-Based Women Organizations in Port Harcourt metropolis and the two tertiary health centres (University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and Rivers State University Teaching Hospital) in Rivers State. The sample of the study was 319 women (executive members) and health officers in all the registered community-based women organizations in the 23 LGAs of Rivers State and tertiary health centres (University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and Rivers State University Teaching Hospital) in Rivers State. The sample consist of 277women (executive members) from registered community-based women organizations and 42 health officers from the two tertiary health institutions in the study area. The multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting the sample. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Health Education Programmes for Supporting Older Women’s Adaptation to Menopause Questionnaire”. The instrument was validated by three experts while the reliability of the instrument was established through a test of internal consistency using Cronbach Alpha method. Coefficients of 0.84, 0.88 and 0.82 were obtained for the various clusters of the instrument which showed that the instrument was reliable. The research questions of the study were answered using mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed among others that community-based menopause awareness programme and nutrition and lifestyle modification programme could be used to support older women’s adaptation to menopause in Port Harcourt metropolis, Rivers State to a high extent. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that Healthcare administrators and policymakers in Rivers State should prioritize the establishment of comprehensive emotional support services for menopausal women.