Experiences of menopause, self-management strategies for menopausal symptoms and perceptions of health care among immigrant women: a systematic review

Objective: To systematically review the published literature relating to experiences of menopause, self-management strategies for menopausal symptoms and health-care needs among immigrant women. Methods: A systematic literature search of English-language publications was performed using Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, Cinahl and Scopus. Twenty-four papers reporting on 19 studies met our inclusion criteria and investigated immigrant women's experiences of menopause and/or their self-management strategies for menopausal symptoms and/or their perceptions of menopause-specific health care. Findings: Of the 19 studies, 15 reported symptoms experienced during the menopausal transition. Three studies included questions regarding self-management strategies for menopausal symptoms and four enquired about perceptions of menopause-specific health care. Although the heterogeneity of the studies makes comparison difficult, their findings are broadly consistent. Immigrant women reported more vasomotor symptoms and other physical symptoms and poorer mental health than non-immigrant women. The few studies that investigated self-management strategies for menopausal symptoms found that these were influenced by culture and those that assessed perceptions of menopause-specific health care found that they were mostly dissatisfied with the care they had received. Conclusion: More research is needed to improve understanding of how immigrant women manage the menopausal transition and how to provide culturally relevant menopause-specific health care.