Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Publication

Piloting an Occupation-Based Assessment and Intervention Toolkit for Menopausal Clients in Occupational Therapy Practice

Fuller, Dara
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract

Importance. Menopause-related changes disrupt daily functioning, occupational roles, and participation in ways inadequately addressed by medical management alone. Despite clear alignment with occupational therapy's (OT) scope, menopause remains underrepresented in occupational therapy practice, and occupation-based clinical tools grounded in occupational therapy frameworks to support practitioners are lacking. Objective. To develop and pilot the Menopause and Life's Occupations toolkit—an occupation-based client self-assessment checklist and paired clinician guide—and evaluate its feasibility and perceived clinical utility in an outpatient occupational therapy setting. Design. Pilot feasibility mixed-methods study. Setting. Outpatient orthopedic clinic. Participants. Thirty adults self-identifying as experiencing perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause (age range: 45–68; median = 58), recruited via convenience sampling. Outcomes and Measures. Feasibility and perceived clinical utility of the toolkit; prevalence and perceived impact of menopause-related occupational disruption across six domains, assessed via Likert-scale items (0–4) and open-ended questions. Clinician guide usability assessed using an adapted System Usability Scale. Results. The most prevalent areas of disruption were lack of social support (66.7%), limited coping strategy knowledge (66.7%), low confidence in managing menopause-related changes (56.7%), and sleep disruption (53.3%). Sleep was the most frequently selected priority for improvement (40.0%). Formal toolkit (checklist and guide) evaluation (n=1) affirmed perceived clinical utility and usability, and iterative informal feedback supported feasibility. Conclusions and Relevance. Findings confirm meaningful occupational disruption across multiple domains and support OT's role in menopause-related care. The Menopause and Life's Occupations toolkit demonstrates feasibility and perceived clinical utility in an outpatient setting. Plain-Language Summary: Menopause affects millions of people worldwide and can disrupt sleep, thinking, emotional well-being, daily routines, and the ability to participate in meaningful activities. Most healthcare focuses on physical symptoms, leaving the impact on daily life largely unaddressed. OT is well-suited to help, but a prior needs assessment confirmed that practical tools for occupational therapy practitioners working with menopausal clients are lacking. Building on earlier development work, this project pilot-tested and refined the Menopause and Life's Occupations toolkit—a paired self-assessment checklist and guide for clinicians. Thirty adults experiencing menopause completed the checklist to define primary domains of occupational disruption. The most commonly reported challenges were feeling unsupported by others, not knowing how to cope, low confidence managing symptoms, and poor sleep. Sleep was the top self-reported priority for improvement. Evaluated together as a paired toolkit, the clinician guide was rated by occupational therapists as practical and clinically relevant, while the client checklist demonstrated feasibility with full completion across participants. This toolkit can help occupational therapy practitioners identify and address how menopause affects their clients’ daily functioning and participation.

Comments
Description
Date
2026-05-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
menopause, occupational therapy, pilot feasibility, mixed methods, occupation-based assessment, women’s health, clinical toolkit
Citation
Fuller, Dara. 2026. "Piloting an Occupation-Based Assessment and Intervention Toolkit for Menopausal Clients in Occupational Therapy Practice." Capstone, Georgia State University. http://doi.org/10.57709/238
Embargo Lift Date
DOI
CC licence
Embedded videos