Korean survey identifies menopause education priorities by menopausal status

A cross-sectional study in BMC Public Health examined priorities for menopausal health literacy education among 192 community-dwelling Korean women aged 45–55: 123 pre/perimenopausal and 69 postmenopausal women. Participants rated perceived educational need and performance for 31 content items covering healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion. Researchers ranked educational priorities using Borich’s needs assessment and the Locus for Focus model.

In both groups, perceived educational need exceeded perceived performance for all 31 items after Holm–Bonferroni correction (all adjusted p < .050). Shared high-priority areas included cognitive symptoms, professional assistance and healthcare facilities, and prevention of psychosocial and musculoskeletal problems. Priorities within the pre/perimenopausal group included hormone therapy, psychosocial symptoms and management, and cardiovascular disease management and prevention. Vasomotor and urogenital symptoms were among the priorities within the postmenopausal group. Few participants reported previous experience with menopause health literacy-based self-management interventions, although intention to participate was high.

The findings suggest that educational programs could combine shared core content with flexible material addressing priorities identified within each menopausal group. However, this cross-sectional survey assessed self-reported needs and performance, not intervention effectiveness or clinical outcomes. Its population limits generalizability, and the within-group analyses do not establish statistically significant differences between menopausal groups.