INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOLS’ PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT IN MANAGING MENOPAUSE CRISES AMONG FEMALE TEACHERS

Abstract

enopause is not a medical condition or an illness but a natural component of the life cycle, yet this topic remains unspoken, especially in the workplace. The study aimed at establishing the influence of physical environment on menopause crisis. The study was carried out among the female teachers in public primary schools in Laikipia County, Kenya. Female teachers were selected because they had experience on issues of menopause. The study adopted expost facto research design. The study was based on the Person-Environment-Occupation Theory of Occupational Performance. A sample of 234 female teachers was selected through stratified random sampling and cluster sampling while a sample of fifty (50) teacher counselors and five (5) sub directors of education from five sub counties were selected through purposive sampling. Data collection instruments were questionaire, interview schedules and focus group discussions. The results revealed that physical environment have a statistically significant influence on menopause crisis where (r 2 =0.683; p-value of 0.0398) which is significant at 0.05 confidence level The findings indicated that physical environment influences menopause crisis among female teachers in public primary schools. The study recommends that employers should give better consideration to female teachers undergoing menopause as an issue that affect their job.