Menopause in forensic mental health services

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Menopause in forensic mental health services.

  • IRAS ID

    361406

  • Contact name

    Sally Darwin

  • Contact email

    sally.darwin1@nhs.net

  • Sponsor organisation

    Noclor NHS Research Office on behalf of West London NHS Trust

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    N/A, N/A

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 4 months, 29 days

  • Research summary

    We aim to assess the impact and experience of menopause in a population of female forensic psychiatric service users.
    Participants will be female adults aged 40 or older receiving treatment from West London Forensic Services.
    Participants will be asked to complete quantitative mental health outcome measures at baseline, 3 and 6 month follow ups. At the baseline assessment, participants will also be asked to complete the Greene Climacteric Scale (Greene, 1976), a 21-item self-report measure which assesses menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweat, rapid heartbeat and difficulty sleeping, and their severity. Additionally, participants will be invited to a one-to-one semi-structured interview about their experience of menopause and its impact on their mental health.
    Assessing the impact and experience of menopause in forensic populations will help us to better understand and meet the needs of our service users, for example, by developing new or adapting existing interventions in response to the menopausal transition. Developing practice-based evidence on this subject will be an important step in stimulating further discussion about menopause and reproductive cycle events, and addressing health-inequalities within forensic psychiatric care.

  • REC name

    South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    26/SW/0037

  • Date of REC Opinion

    26 Mar 2026

  • REC opinion

    Unfavourable Opinion