The Australian women's Midlife Years (AMY) Study: Work experience and needs

Background: Most women are in the workforce when they go through menopause. However, the impact of menopause on women’s work capacity, satisfaction and career progression remains uncertain. Objective: The PhD goals are to understand the impact of menopause on paid and unpaid work performance and engagement in a nationally representative sample of 8000 women, aged 40-69 years, recruited by the Women's Health Research Program The data for this study has been collected and the PhD will be the analysis of this large data set to determine I. the proportion of women in full and part-time paid work, carer and volunteer roles; II. the association between menopause symptoms and self-assessed work performance in women in paid and unpaid work roles, including shift work, taking into account the impact of demographic, psychological and economic circumstances. III. whether menopause symptoms are an independent barrier to work performance or work engagement. Overall significance: The proposed study is a key step towards in in-depth understanding of the contemporary menopause experience of Australian women and provides valuable, real-world, insights into the impact of menopausal symptoms on women’s work performance and engagement., and will make a major contribution to women’s health, with a substantial socioeconomic impact beyond women’s health.