Abstract

The researchers aim in this synthesis is to interpret the cultural constructions of menopause in Indigenous women and apply these interpretations to the context of Māori women in Aotearoa/New Zealand. There is a lack of research about Indigenous women’s interpretations of health, and how culture mediates understandings and experiences of menopause. There is even less research regarding Māori women’s understandings and experiences of menopause, as the discourse is dominated by Western ideology. Using meta ethnography methodology, the researchers selected eight studies, that provided the foundations to enable the interpretation of the cultural constructions of menopause in Indigenous women. The findings were then translated into four metaphors- natural, cultural protection, freedom and idiomatic and then were subsequently translated to Māori concepts mana wahine, Mātauranga Māori, tikanga and pepeha. We suggest that broader mainstream understandings of the cultural constructions of menopause for Indigenous women are necessary to provide equitable health outcomes for Māori and other Indigenous women. The researchers further developed a model that can be used to represent the foundations of Māori women’s conscious understandings and experience of menopause.

摘要

研究人员在这一综合中的目标是解释土著妇女更年期的文化结构，并将这些解释应用于新西兰奥特罗阿毛利妇女的背景。缺乏关于土著妇女对健康的解释以及文化如何调节对更年期的理解和体验的研究。关于毛利妇女对更年期的理解和经历的研究更少，因为话语是由西方意识形态主导的。使用元民族志方法，研究人员选择了八项研究，这些研究为解释土著妇女更年期的文化结构奠定了基础。然后将这些发现转化为四个隐喻——自然、文化保护、自由和惯用语，随后被翻译成毛利语概念 mana wahine、Mātauranga Māori、tikanga 和 pepeha。我们建议，对土著妇女更年期的文化结构进行更广泛的主流理解对于为毛利人和其他土著妇女提供公平的健康结果是必要的。研究人员进一步开发了一个模型，可以用来代表毛利女性对更年期的有意识理解和体验的基础。