The purpose of this study is to add to the understanding of the variety of experiences of the menopause transition by developing a substantive grounded theory of the transition as perceived by an ethnically-diverse sample of inner-city postmenopausal women, one to two years past their last menstrual cycle.
The specific aims are to: (a) describe a women-centered conceptualization of the menopause transition from the perceptive of inner-city, minority women; (b) explore the context of the menopause transition; and develop a substantive mid-range theory of the responses to a natural menopause in inner-city women. Three audiotaped interviews with 25 healthy, community, inner-city, minority, postmenopausal women will provide the narrative data. The first interview will focus on a life history to provide the context; then, the chronological and experiential details of the menopause transition; and, lastly the meaning of those experiences. The data will be analyzed using the grounded theory method of constant comparative analysis. It is expected that the results will propose a new theoretical perspective on the aging of inner-city, minority women.
