Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia

This paper aims to explore the practicalities of using qualitative methodology, specifically in-depth interviews and participant observation, in researching a sensitive issue. This method was chosen in order to gain an understanding of menopausal experiences among urban Malay women. Generally, menop...

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Main Author: Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/8877/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/8877/1/Exploring_a_sensitive_issue-QRAM_Conference.pdf
id iium-8877
recordtype eprints
spelling iium-88772011-12-21T09:08:38Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/8877/ Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura GN Anthropology This paper aims to explore the practicalities of using qualitative methodology, specifically in-depth interviews and participant observation, in researching a sensitive issue. This method was chosen in order to gain an understanding of menopausal experiences among urban Malay women. Generally, menopause is not discussed openly in the Malay society. However, other areas of reproductive health like fertility, childbirth and post-partum experience are spoken about publicly, making menopause an area of relatively marginal concern in regards to women’s health. Researching a sensitive issue like menopause is therefore taxing and at times overwhelming. Reluctance to discuss the issue is the first of a number of challenges faced in researching the topic. This paper examines these challenges which include recruiting participants into the study, building trust and rapport, and communicating effectively with participants throughout the fieldwork. Some strategies used to overcome the challenges are included in the paper. The most important of these is the justification of the research topic. Menopause can be of concern to many women. Given the changing demographics of the ageing society and women continued and important place in the workforce, the health of menopausal women should be taken seriously and open discussion will help to improve this situation. The paper concludes that qualitative methodology enables us to gain new information not accessible through other methods of data collection, especially for topics that are of a sensitive nature like menopause. Keywords: menopause, sensitive issue, Malay, urban women, qualitative, self-disclosure, challenges 2007 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/8877/1/Exploring_a_sensitive_issue-QRAM_Conference.pdf Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura (2007) Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia. In: 4th International Qualitative Research Convention 2007, 3-5 September 2007, PJ Hilton, Petaling Jaya. (Unpublished)
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
topic GN Anthropology
spellingShingle GN Anthropology
Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia
description This paper aims to explore the practicalities of using qualitative methodology, specifically in-depth interviews and participant observation, in researching a sensitive issue. This method was chosen in order to gain an understanding of menopausal experiences among urban Malay women. Generally, menopause is not discussed openly in the Malay society. However, other areas of reproductive health like fertility, childbirth and post-partum experience are spoken about publicly, making menopause an area of relatively marginal concern in regards to women’s health. Researching a sensitive issue like menopause is therefore taxing and at times overwhelming. Reluctance to discuss the issue is the first of a number of challenges faced in researching the topic. This paper examines these challenges which include recruiting participants into the study, building trust and rapport, and communicating effectively with participants throughout the fieldwork. Some strategies used to overcome the challenges are included in the paper. The most important of these is the justification of the research topic. Menopause can be of concern to many women. Given the changing demographics of the ageing society and women continued and important place in the workforce, the health of menopausal women should be taken seriously and open discussion will help to improve this situation. The paper concludes that qualitative methodology enables us to gain new information not accessible through other methods of data collection, especially for topics that are of a sensitive nature like menopause. Keywords: menopause, sensitive issue, Malay, urban women, qualitative, self-disclosure, challenges
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
author_facet Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
author_sort Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
title Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia
title_short Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia
title_full Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia
title_fullStr Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban Malay women in Malaysia
title_sort exploring a sensitive issue: menopause experience among urban malay women in malaysia
publishDate 2007
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/8877/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/8877/1/Exploring_a_sensitive_issue-QRAM_Conference.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:18:41Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:18:41Z
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