title: Premature menopause: exploring the experience through online communication.
abstract: The authors explored the experience of premature menopause by analyzing 1350 posted messages by 98 women, with unique usernames, to an online discussion board over a 90 day period between December 2005 and March 2006. Four particularly problematic aspects emerged that related to the following themes: legitimizing the symptoms, the impact of diagnosis ("losing me"), treatment ("regaining me"), and feeling alone. It appeared that premature menopause, regardless of the cause, was a largely negative experience, compounded by the often lengthy process of confirming a diagnosis based on ambiguous and often vague symptoms, the scarcity of suitable information about the condition, and the subjective lack of perceived support that the women received. Furthermore, a feeling of being different, through the lack of menstruation and fertility choices, often led to relationship problems and generally a loss of well-being. Women with premature menopause would benefit from the development of tailored information and support that addresses these problematic aspects of the condition.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. l.halliday@usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Halliday
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boughton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008490:Medical Informatics; D008594:Menopause, Premature / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health