"But at a certain point, the lights literally went out": A qualitative study exploring midlife women's experiences of health, wellbeing, and functioning in relation to paid work.
Marjolein Verburgh, Petra Verdonk, Maaike Muntinga and 3 others
PMID 37781836WHAT IT FOUND
Midlife women described exhaustion arising when menopausal symptoms collided with inflexible work and unpaid care duties.
Many concealed symptoms to avoid stigma. Autonomy helped some manage, but most resorted to individual fixes like reducing hours or changing jobs rather than structural support.
Key findings
01Exhaustion was the central theme, experienced as feeling tired, lacking energy, concentration problems, and irritability after physical and mental limits were reached.
02Work environments that lacked accommodation for physiological challenges, such as inflexible hours and high emotional demands, exacerbated exhaustion, while autonomy allowed some women to manage better.
03Women took individual measures to cope, including reducing working hours or seeking new jobs, often constrained by financial responsibilities or lack of options.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study excluded women who had already left paid work, so it could not assess if exhaustion led to complete withdrawal from the labor market. Two focus groups were natural groups (participants knew each other), which may have influenced conformity and depth of disclosure compared to constructed groups. The sample was purposive and convenience-sampled due to COVID-19 restrictions, limiting generalizability. Transcripts were not member-checked for accuracy, though themes were shared with participants for recognition.
Declared interests
The authors are employed at Amsterdam UMC. No specific funding source or commercial conflicts of interest are detailed in the provided text, though the study was part of a PhD project.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between work autonomy and reduced exhaustion as evidence that giving patients autonomy will prevent health decline. This is a qualitative description of experiences, not a tested intervention.