Knowledge and Coping Strategies of Menopause among Female Public Secondary School Teachers in Ado-Odo/Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Menopause marks the end of a woman’s reproductive life and brings in several physiological changes that affect the life of a woman permanently. This change can be influenced by socio-demographic factors and life coping activities. This study therefore examined the level of Knowledge, and Coping Strategies for Menopausal Syndrome among Public Secondary school teachers in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. The study adopts a survey research design of ex-post facto type. The sample size for the study comprised 850 respondents drawn from the teachers in public secondary schools in Ado-Odo Ota, Ogun State using a multi-stage sampling approach. To address the problem, two research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analyzed, using descriptive statistics of Mean and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions, while Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test all the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that respondents’ knowledge of menopause was above average (mean = 1.51), most of the respondents did not experience many of the symptoms (mean = 2.48), There was no significant difference in the knowledge of menopause among menopausal Teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Ado-Odo/Ota based on qualification (F(6,849) = 0.383, P>0.05). There was a significant difference in the knowledge of menopause among menopausal teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Ado-Odo/Ota based on marital status (F(6,849) = 2.423, P<0.05). It was therefore recommended, among others, that menopausal teachers should be the target group on health promotion and education programs for effective tutelage on coping strategies, develop interventions that encourage menopausal women to adopt healthy lifestyle practices, such as regular physical activity, balanced diets.