You all know that I’ve been pretty vocal about the dearth of research devoted to menopause and midlife women. (Witness the most recent blog entries on Menopause and Immunity.) I guess it pays to climb on the soapbox and vent every now and then, because I was just contacted by researchers from the University at Texas School of Nursing, Austin regarding two studies they are conducting via the internet on -you guessed it- menopausal and midlife women. The study is funded by the NIH (National Institute of Health) and NINR. Primary researcher is Eun-Ok Im, PhD, MPH, RN, CNS, FAAN.

Study 1 concerns physical activity among women aged 40-60 years. Study 2 specifically focuses on menopausal women and their symptom experience – age group also 40 to 60 years of age. They are looking at diverse ethnic groups in these studies: differences and similarities as well as cultural effects. They have enough Asian and Caucasian women represented in the study but seriously need more Hispanic and African-American women to participate for the data to be complete so pass the word to all your Hispanic and African-American goddess friends and acquaintances. I’m including the study website links at the end of this blog entry.

They tell me that each participating goddess will be reimbursed with a gift certificate of $10 per internet survey, and an additional gift certificate for $50 if they join the online forum discussion, which lasts 6 months. They didn’t specify where the gift certificate was redeemable, but it is worth our while to participate for FREE if it helps us learn more about our transitions.

If you wish more info, I’ll be happy to send you all that they’ve sent me – just click the "Contact Us" button at the top right of the page and let me know where to email you. For now here are the links and thanks for spreading the word!

Univ TX Study on Midlife Women and Physical Activity

Univ TX Study on Menopausal Women’s Symptom Experience