Internship project: Addressing gaps in the delivery of perimenopause and menopause symptom management programs for Australia’s nursing workforce
Project Participants
Status: Ongoing
Opportunity
As Australia seeks to increase women’s participation in the workforce, understanding women’s unique health needs across the lifecycle is critical. While much policy and practice focuses on women of childbearing/rearing age, it is vital that we also understand and support women who are transitioning to, or are in, their menopausal years. It remains unknown what employers of nursing staff in Australia are currently doing to support their female staff and what their unique experiences are on issues of, for example, staff retention, supports in place for staff struggling with menopausal symptoms, and how such retention and support is factored into workforce planning.
This project builds on a documentary analysis undertaken in a previous internship project to understand gaps in support for managing menopause among nurses. This new project aims to understand the extent to which traditional corporate well-being programs for managing menopause address the needs of the nursing workforce. It will also explore how digital technology has been used to deliver these projects successfully, and how similar solutions can be introduced to support the nursing workforce without disrupting their work or contributing to stigma or negative feelings. The interns will be undertaking a documentary analysis, which may be augmented with data from stakeholder feedback sessions.
Project Objectives
- Understand female nurses’ experiences managing menopausal symptoms at work.
- Understand employers’ perspectives on how to support nurses managing menopausal symptoms at work.
- Develop recommendations on how nurses’ could be better supported to manage menopausal symptoms at work.