SPICE-up your life study: flourishing in midlife
Theme: Principles of human flourishing
Type of research: Mixed method
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 and men for one year to be able to compare midlife and menopausal attitudes, complaints and positive mental health over time and between gender.
After signing up for the study, participants are invited to complete online informed consent for completing up to 4 questionnaires in approximately one year. The first
survey starts half of January 2024, the second survey half May 2024, the third survey half September 2024 and the last survey half January 2025. Participants have around 3 weeks to complete the survey. Each survey consists of the following constructs: - Mental wellbeing (MHCSF) - Meaning in life (3DM) - Basic needs (BNS) - 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) - Brief questions about lifestyle aspects (physical activity, alcohol, tobacco). These questions are repeated in the final survey (one year later) except for most sociodemographics. In the second survey, the following questions are added: - Attitudes towards motherhood and fatherhood - Social roles - Family relationships (mainly open questions). In the third survey, the following questions are added: - Personality factors - Anxiety, Depression and Stress - Physical health / vitality. Data will be collected using Qualtrics.
In this project, you will be responsible for recruiting Dutch and German participants of 18 years and older for the first survey.
Example research questions are:
- What expectations do men and women have about the menopause and how do they differ between age, menopausal status and/or gender?
- What do people of different ages, menopausal status and/or gender 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?
- How do women of different ages and menopausal status score on the 14 dimensions of mental wellbeing? (Or any of the other outcome measures?)