Vice-Chancellor's Gender Equality Fund Final Report 2023: Identification and Prioritisation of Perimenopausal Support Needs of Western Staff

This project set out to identify and prioritise the needs for perimenopausal support at Western using a two-step Delphi method, which was complemented with a thematic analysis of the free texts from the Delphi surveys. Nineteen unique needs were identified from 86 staff who had experienced or were experiencing perimenopause during their employment at Western in the first Delphi round. The needs were prioritised by 57 staff with the same inclusion criteria in the second Delphi round into three tiers: the most pressing Tier 1 (four topics), medium-importance Tier 2 (eight topics) and less pressing priorities Tier 3 (seven topics). Perimenopausal Western staff's expressed needs and their rank-order of importance were strongly supported by their open-text accounts on (a) Perimenopause symptoms; (b) Need for better knowledge and understanding of perimenopause; (c) Negative feelings associated with perimenopausal experiences; and (d) Negative workplace experiences during perimenopause. A small number of participants expressed their opinion that no workplace support was necessary. A narrative review of black and grey literature, and information gathered from perimenopausal-related networks and the mass media, indicated that the awareness of and attention to (peri)menopausal workplace support has been increasing nationally and globally. By making steps to progress workplace support for perimenopausal staff who need them" acknowledging that some staff are happy to obtain this support outside of the workplace" Western will align with the best practice recommendations in this aspect of gender equity.