title: Barriers to Middle-Aged Women's Mental Health: A Qualitative Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Middle-aged women encounter some barriers to their mental health, putting them at great risk for developing mental disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to explore barriers to middle-aged women's mental health.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a qualitative content analysis study conducted in 2013 in Kashan, Iran. A purposive, maximum variation sample of 23 middle-aged women was recruited to the study. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured individual interviews. We employed the conventional qualitative content analysis approach for data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Barriers to middle-aged women's mental health fell into two main themes including 'increased life concerns' and 'physical and psychological tensions'. The two sub-categories of the first theme included having mental concerns and increased burden of roles. The second main theme also consisted of two categories including perceived undesirable physical changes and perceived undesirable psychological changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Experiences of middle-aged women showed that culturally appropriate interventions to alleviate the concerns of life, physical and mental stress is essential to preserve stability of mental health.
authors: Department of Nursing, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors: Khadijeh
authors: K
authors: Sharifi
authors: Department of Nursing, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors: Monireh
authors: M
authors: Anoosheh
authors: Department of Gerontology, Aging Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors: Mahshid
authors: M
authors: Foroughan
authors: Department of Biostatistics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors: Anushirvan
authors: A
authors: Kazemnejad
keywords: Mental Health; Middle Aged; Qualitative Research; Women