Spotlight on Women’s Health in the South East

About Women’s Health in the South East

Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) is the regional women’s health service for the Southern Metropolitan Region. WHISE is a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on empowering women. WHISE works to improve the health and wellbeing of women in their region by providing health information and education to governments, organisations, education providers, and community groups. WHISE’s team of health promotion professionals work to promote gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, mental health and wellbeing and the prevention of violence against women.

Featured work: Menopause and Perimenopause

WHISE’s work in sexual and reproductive health is led by a regional bimonthly network that oversees the implementation of the four-year strategy, Good Health Down South 2021 – 2025. Recently, WHISE’s work in sexual and reproductive health has included a focus on perimenopause and menopause, following the successful delivery of a webinar in September 2022 called, “Hot topic: Menopause and how to manage”. Over 250 people registered for the webinar and 150 people attended to learn about the clinical management and self-management of perimenopause and menopause.

WHISE has since led the establishment of a working group to lead interventions to address perimenopause and menopause in the Southern Metropolitan Region. There are representatives from a range of services who attend the meetings including local government, community health, and health promotion agencies.

Menopause information sessions
In 2023, the working group focused on delivering two key projects. One of the projects was a series of informational sessions for community members as WHISE identified a significant gap in community health literacy in perimenopause and menopause. WHISE worked with the region’s two Sexual and Reproductive Health Hubs –

Peninsula Health and Monash Health Community – as well as Women's Health Loddon Mallee to translate evidence-based information about perimenopause and menopause into accessible content to deliver in the sessions.

From June to September 2023, WHISE successfully delivered 19 sessions to over 340 participants at local workplaces, neighbourhood houses, public libraries and community centres, including one session to celebrate World Menopause Day on 18 October. The aim was to provide information to women experiencing perimenopause and menopause, to empower them to make informed decisions about their symptom management, and encourage help-seeking. Preliminary analysis of the sessions has shown statistically significant increases in participants’ knowledge and confidence.

For instance, WHISE noted:

·      an increase of 55% in participants’ knowledge of lifestyle changes that can be used to manage menopausal symptoms

·      a 68% increase in participants’ knowledge of non-hormonal methods that can be used to manage menopausal symptoms

·      a 57% increase in participants’ knowledge of menopause hormone treatment.

WHISE has applied for grant funding in order to continue to deliver the community information sessions sustainably.

Workplace menopause policy case study
The second project delivered by the working group was a case study which was published on 12 October 2023. The case study examined two organisations that have successfully implemented workplace menopause policies: Future Super and Modibodi. There is substantial evidence that perimenopause and menopause impact on women's participation in the workforce and has critical implications for their financial security, both while employed and in retirement. By offering flexible working arrangements and paid leave, women and gender diverse people are able to care for themselves when they are experiencing symptoms of menopause without using their personal/sick leave or jeopardising their employment with increased days of absence. It was therefore hoped that the case study would encourage other workplaces to explore opportunities to implement workplace menopause policies, to retain women and gender diverse people in the workforce.

What’s next for this work?

WHISE will continue to leverage the momentum in the working group and surrounding perimenopause and menopause to lead health promotion efforts to improve outcomes for women in the Southern Metropolitan Region. As mentioned, WHISE has applied for a grant made available by the Department of Health, to establish Women’s Health and Wellbeing Support Groups. If successful, WHISE hopes to build the capacity of women with lived experience of perimenopause and menopause to deliver community-based information sessions in 2024.

To find out more about the WHISE’s work, visit https://whise.org.au/