The broad long-term objective of the proposed study is to augment the existing anthropological research on menopause. Anthropologists have ascertained that cultural constructs, particularly gender roles and attitudes toward aging, affect the experience, symptomotology and perception of menopause. What has not received adequate attention in the field is how the meaning and experience of menopause varies within a cultural setting due to social and economic differentials. Thus, the specific aims of this project are to investigate in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico, how social class effects; a) gender roles, b) attitudes toward aging, c) the experience of menopause and d) various medical treatments used by women. The PI will also examine the medical and popular dissemination of information about menopause, analyzing what this reveals about contemporary prescriptions for appropriate womanhood. The PI will reside in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico from September 1999 to January 2001 to conduct this field study. A three page questionnaire developed by the PI contains questions regarding employment, education, household composition, income in order to ascertain social class. Open ended questions solicit the woman's knowledge, beliefs and experience of menopause. These interviews will be tape recorded and transcribed by the Pl, then later analyzed for the core meanings assigned to menopause. Participants will be recruited from the following sources; a) The NIMH Study, """"""""Proyecto de Investigation Internacional Sobre Salud Comunitaria"""""""" (Grant MH51278), b) The PI will attend religious, community and social meetings and events that are primarily attended by women, c) Public and private clinics and d) Opportunisitc interviews in addition to snowball sampling. A two page questionnaire will be administered to 10 (each) of the following medical practitioners: gynecologists and family practitioners, homeopaths, naturistas, ethnomedical practitioners, pharmacists and mental health practitioners. The Oaxacan Yellow Pages and word-of-mouth sampling has been effective with these participants. After the field research has been completed (February 2001), the PI will return to the University of Iowa to write her dissertation.
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| Ramirez, Michelle (2006) Manufacturing heterosexuality: hormone replacement therapy and menopause in urban Oaxaca. Cult Health Sex 8:545-58 |
