Conceptual Models for Women’s Health Research: Reclaiming Menopause As an Exemplar of Nursing’s Contributions to Feminist Scholarship

Abstract

An examination of women’s transition through menopause provides a remarkable example of nursing’s contributions to feminist scholarship. The predominant biomedical model perpetuates the idea that menopause is a deficiency disease, whereas feminist and nurse scholars have deconstructed this paradigm and have reclaimed menopause as a part of midlife women’s developmental stage. We begin this chapter with a review of the birth of women’s health scholarship as it is the foundation for theory that undergirds feminist nursing research. We then discuss the tenets of feminist scholarship. The historical context of menopause is reviewed briefly to highlight the ways in which menopause was transformed from a normal physiological event to a disease. Using this as a backdrop, we reviewed nursing studies in two emerging bodies of knowledge. We reviewed 10 studies in the area of “women reclaiming menopause” and found that over all women believe the menopausal transition is a normal developmental stage. The second area of new research looks at “menopause across cultures.” The studies of Korean, Indian, and Thai women reviewed demonstrate that similar to other health issues, the experience of Western women cannot be universalized, and most important, researchers must take into consideration the social, political, economic, and cultural forces that impact women’s experience of the menopause transition.