Whereas making decisions during menopause can be challenging for all women, those with physical impairments face special issues with respect to menopause in general and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in particular. In this correlational study, the authors explored the factors such women consider when making decisions about HRT. One hundred sixty-seven women with physical impairments throughout the United States completed surveys concerning their attitudes and knowledge about HRT. Approximately half the menopausal women were currently taking HRT. The strongest predictor of HRT use was women’s perceptions of their health care providers’ opinions about their taking HRT, combined with their motivation to comply with the provider’s recommendation. This finding points to the significant role that nurses and other health care providers play in assisting women to make informed health care choices during menopause.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ajzen, I. (1988). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
2.
Ajzen, I. , & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
American College of Physicians . (1992). Guidelines for counseling postmenopausal women about preventive hormone therapy. Annals of Internal Medicine, 117(12), 1038-1041.
4.
Becker, H. , Stuifbergen, A., & Tinkle, M. (1997). Reproductive health care experiences of women with physical disabilities: A qualitative study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 78(12 Suppl. 5), 526-533.
5.
Blue, C. L. (1995). The predictive capacity of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior in exercise research: An integrated literature review. Research in Nursing and Health, 18, 105-121.
6.
Fishbein, M. , & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
7.
Fitzgerald, G. (October 2000). Racial and ethnic differences in hormone use in mid-life. Presented at the NIH 10th Anniversary Conference on Women’s Health. Washington, D.C.
8.
Jackson, A. B. , & Wadley, V. (1999). A multicenter study of women’s self-reported reproductive health after spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 80, 1420-1428.
9.
Keating, N. L. , Cleary, P. D., Rossi, A. S., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Ayanian, J. Z. (1999). Use of HRT by postmenopausal women in the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine, 130(7), 545-553.
10.
Logothetis, M. L. (1991). Women’s decisions about estrogen replacement therapy. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 13, 458-475.
11.
MacLaren, A. , & Woods, N. (2001). Midlife women making hormone therapy decisions. Women’s Health Issues, 11(3), 216-229.
12.
Mansfield, P. K. , & Voda, A. M. (1997). Woman-centered information on menopause for health care providers: Findings from the midlife women’s health survey. Health Care for Women International, 18, 55-72.
13.
Marmoreo, J. , Brown, J. B., Batty, H. R., Cummings, S., & Powell, M. (1998). HRT: Determinants of women’s decision. Patient Education and Counseling, 33, 289-298.
14.
Newton, K. M. , Lacroix, A. Z., Leveille, S. G., Rutter, C., Keenan, N. L., & Anderson, L. A. (1998). The physician’s role in women’s decision making about HRT. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 92(4), 580-584.
15.
O’Connor, A. M. , Tugwell, P., Wells, G. A., Elmslie, T., Jolly, E., Hollingworth, G., Mcpherson, R., Bunn, H., Graham, I., & Drake, E. (1998). A decision aid for women considering hormone therapy after menopause: Decision support framework and evaluation. Patient Education and Counseling, 33, 267-279.
16.
Ott, S. M. (2001). Osteoporosis in women with spinal cord injury. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America: Women’s Issues, 12(1), 111-132.
17.
Padonu, G. , Holmes-Rovner, M., Rothert, M., Schmitt, N., Kroll, J., Rovner, D., Talarczyk, G., Breer, L., Ransom, S., & Gladney, E. (1996). African-American women’s perception of menopause. American Journal of Health Behavior, 20(4), 242-251.
18.
Powell-Cope, G. , Lierman, L., Kasprzyk, D., Young, H., & Benoliel, J. (1991). The theory of reasoned action in prediction of breast self-examination: A comparison of two studies. Health Care for Women International, 12, 51-61.
19.
Rodriguez, C. , Patel, A., Calle, E., Jacob, E., & Thun, M. (2001). Estrogen replacement therapy and ovarian cancer mortality in a large prospective study of U.S. women. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 1460-1465.
20.
Rosenstock, I. M. , Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1988). Social learning theory and the health belief model. Health Education Quarterly, 15(2), 175-183.
21.
Rothert, M. L. , Holmes-Rovner, M., Rover, D., Kroll, J., Breer, L., Talarczyk, G., Schmitt, N., Padonu, G., & Wills, C. (1997). An educational intervention as decision support for menopausal women. Research in Nursing and Health, 20, 377-387.
22.
Salamone, L. M. , Pressman, A. R., Seeley, D. G., & Cauley, J. A. (1996). Estrogen replacement therapy: A survey of older women’s attitudes. Archives of Internal Medicine, 156(12), 1293-1297.
23.
Schecter, S. , & Herrmann, D. (1997). The proper use of self-report questions in effective measurement of health outcomes. Evaluation and the Health Professions, 20(1), 28-46.
24.
Shabas, D. , & Weinreb, H. (2000). Preventive healthcare in women with multiple sclerosis. Journal of Women’s Health & Gender-Based Medicine, 9(4), 389-395.
25.
Sheppard, B. H. , Hartwick, J., & Warshaw, P. R. (1988). The theory of reasoned action: A meta-analysis of past research with recommendations for modifications and future research. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 325-340.
26.
Sutherland, H. J. , da Cunha, R., Lockwood, G. A., & Till, J. E. (1998). What attitudes and beliefs underlie patients’ decisions about participating in chemotheraphy trials?Medical Decision Making, 18(1), 61-69.
27.
Turk, M. , Scandale, J., Rosenbaum, P. F., & Weber, R. (2001). The health of women with cerebral palsy. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America: Women’s Issues, 12(1), 153-168.
28.
Vandennaker, C. , & Glass, D. (2001). Menopause and aging with disability. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America: Women’s Issues, 12(1), 133-152.
29.
Welner, S. (1996). Contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, and menopause. In D. M. Krotoski, M. A. Nosek, & M. A. Turk (Eds.), Women with physical disabilities (pp. 81-90). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
