Preferred Types of Menopause Service Delivery

Abstract

This article analyses what a sample of women experiencing menopause say they would like in terms of a quality menopause health service. Thirty-nine women who defined themselves as currently or recently menopausal were interviewed in depth, and data were analysed using a qualitative strategy known as thematic networks analysis. In terms of the structure of a menopause service, the dominant picture emerging was that women wanted an integrative menopause service where General Practitioners would act as a gateway to both biomedical treatments and complementary and alternative medicine. In addition, participants recommended that practitioners be knowledgeable about the wider (psychosocial) issues associated with menopause, and well versed in a range of therapies. In terms of process issues, participants wanted a service where their experiences were listened to and taken seriously. Given the tension between biomedicine and complementary and alternative medicine over the status of knowledge and diverse approaches to what counts as evidence about whether or not a therapy works, at least some aspects of what participants want from a menopause service may be very difficult to realise.