TY - JOUR

T1 - What do working menopausal women want?

T2 - A qualitative investigation into women's perspectives on employer and line manager support

AU - Hardy, Claire

AU - Griffiths, Amanda

AU - Hunter, Myra S.

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Maturitas. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Maturitas, 101, 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.04.011

PY - 2017/7/1

Y1 - 2017/7/1

N2 - Objectives To explore women's perspectives on what employers and managers should and should not do in relation to women going through the menopause. Methods An online questionnaire was used to collect qualitative data in a cross-sectional study of working women. Three open-ended questions asked peri- and post-menopausal women, aged 45–65 years: (i) what they thought employers could do, or should do, to help menopausal women who may be experiencing difficult menopausal symptoms at work; (ii) how managers should behave; and (iii) how managers should not behave towards women going through the menopause. Results 137 women responded to the open questions in the survey. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted and three overarching themes emerged. Theme 1 related to employer/manager awareness, specifically to knowledge about the menopause and awareness of how the physical work environment might impact on menopausal women. Theme 2 related to employer/manager communication skills and behaviors, specifically those considered helpful and desired and those considered unhelpful and undesired. Theme 3 described employer actions, involving staff training and raising awareness, and supportive policies such as those relating to sickness absence and flexible working hours. Conclusions The menopause can be difficult for some women to deal with at work, partly due to the working environment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore women's descriptions of how they would like to be treated by employers/managers, and what would be helpful and unhelpful. The results have clear implications for communication about menopause at work and for employer-level policy and practice.

AB - Objectives To explore women's perspectives on what employers and managers should and should not do in relation to women going through the menopause. Methods An online questionnaire was used to collect qualitative data in a cross-sectional study of working women. Three open-ended questions asked peri- and post-menopausal women, aged 45–65 years: (i) what they thought employers could do, or should do, to help menopausal women who may be experiencing difficult menopausal symptoms at work; (ii) how managers should behave; and (iii) how managers should not behave towards women going through the menopause. Results 137 women responded to the open questions in the survey. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted and three overarching themes emerged. Theme 1 related to employer/manager awareness, specifically to knowledge about the menopause and awareness of how the physical work environment might impact on menopausal women. Theme 2 related to employer/manager communication skills and behaviors, specifically those considered helpful and desired and those considered unhelpful and undesired. Theme 3 described employer actions, involving staff training and raising awareness, and supportive policies such as those relating to sickness absence and flexible working hours. Conclusions The menopause can be difficult for some women to deal with at work, partly due to the working environment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore women's descriptions of how they would like to be treated by employers/managers, and what would be helpful and unhelpful. The results have clear implications for communication about menopause at work and for employer-level policy and practice.

KW - Employers

KW - Managers

KW - Menopause

KW - Qualitative research

KW - Support

KW - Work

U2 - 10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.04.011

DO - 10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.04.011

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28539167

VL - 101

SP - 37

EP - 41

JO - Maturitas

JF - Maturitas

SN - 0378-5122

ER -