
Johanna Esseveld
Professor emerita

Keeping my ways of being: Middle-aged women dealing with the passage through menopause
Author
Summary, in English
The meanings given to menopause by women themselves are often left aside. In this grounded theory study, based on interviews and on open-ended questions in questionnaires answered by middle-aged women, the authors found that not being able to know what would happen and what influence menopause would have on them as individuals were sources of uncertainty. A theory of a general pattern of behaviour emerged, Keeping my ways of being, resolving the uncertainties involved. The intensity of the process and the use of its three different stages, those of Preserving present ways of being, Limiting changes and Reappraising, were considered to be dependent upon the central Personal calculation process, in which the women used their individual explanatory beliefs and evaluations of need. The theory used as a model of thinking in consultations with middle-aged women might show a high degree of workability in explaining what is going on.
Department/s
- Medicine/Emergency Medicine, Lund
- Sociology
Publishing year
2005
Language
English
Pages
21-53
Publication/Series
The Grounded Theory Review
Volume
5
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Sociology Press
Topic
- Other Clinical Medicine
Status
Published
Project
- Gendered Identeties and Middle-Aged Bodies
Research group
- Critical Perspectives in Sociology / Kritiska Studier i Sociologi
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1556-1542