SPICE-up your life longitudinal study of women’s mental health
Method Stream: Longitudinal Intensive Methods
ECs: Both 14 and 23 EC thesis possible
Description:
Women face many challenges in midlife which makes it a challenge to stay physically and mentally healthy. However, many research regarding pregnancy, changing roles and the transition to menopause is medicalized, lacking in particular longitudinal and qualitative research regarding positive aspects such as wellbeing, meaning in life and positive attitudes towards menopause. The current pilot study aims to follow women for one year to be able to compare midlife and menopausal attitudes, complaints and positive mental health over time. See also www.spice-consortium.nl.
After signing up for the study, women aged 18 and above were invited to complete online informed consent for completing up to 4 questionnaires in approximately one year. The first survey started half of January 2024, the second survey half of May 2024, the third survey half of September 2024 and the last survey half of January 2025. Participants have around 3 weeks to complete the survey. Each survey consisted of the following constructs: Mental wellbeing (MHCSF), meaning in life (3DM), basic needs (BNS), and an open question to tell about the feelings, life events and daily experiences of the past 4 months.
The first survey also contains: Socio-demographic variables, menopausal symptoms (MRS), attitudes towards menopause (ATM and open questions), info to obtain menopausal status (only women), experiences with the menopausal transition, and brief questions about lifestyle aspects (physical activity, alcohol, tobacco). In the first survey were also some men involved which could be interesting as comparison group on certain symptoms and attitudes. The focus for the second survey was on pregnancy, miscarriage, desired and involuntary childless, expectations about motherhood, attitudes towards motherhood and fatherhood, social roles, family relationships. The third survey also included menstruation experiences, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), contraception, breastfeeding, anxiety, depression, stress, burn-out and repetition of menopausal symptoms and menopausal status. The final wave also consisted of life events in the past 12 months and questions about women’s career path. Data was collected using Qualtrics, including some standardized (closed) questions and several open questions.
Example research questions are:
• What expectations do women of different ages have about motherhood and the menopause? (Cross-sectional or mixed method study)
• What do people of different ages, menopausal status describe about the major and daily life-events in the past 4 months? And how do such events relates to their scores on basic needs, mental wellbeing and/or meaning in life? (Qualitative or mixed method study)
• How do women of different ages and menopausal status score on the 14 dimensions of mental wellbeing / meaning in life / basic needs, and how do they differ over time? What are predictors of higher levels of mental wellbeing (etc) over time? (Longitudinal study)