Abstract
Background: Midlife women experience a major developmental transition involving multidimensional changes (physical, psychological, and social changes), before, during, and after their menopause (1-4). During this transition, the women’s depressive symptoms could be linked to their quality of life (5). However, few studies have been conducted on the women’s depressive symptoms by their quality of life. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of depressive symptoms by the QoL among Korean American midlife women and provide directions for future interventions for this specific population.
Methods: This is a part of an ongoing randomized controlled trial of Korean American midlife women. The main eligibility criteria were: 1) being aged 40–65 and 2) experiencing depressive symptoms within the last two weeks, but not depression. A total of 169 baseline data was used for analysis. QoL was measured using WHOQOL-BREF, which has four subscales: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environmental health. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). A K-means cluster analysis was conducted using WHOQOL subscales. The optimal cluster number (k=2) was calculated by NbClust in R. Independent T-test and chi-square test were conducted to compare the cluster characteristics.
Results: The K-means analysis revealed two clusters. Cluster 1 (low QoL group, n=94) showed lower scores on all QoL subscales (p< .001), compared with Cluster 2 (high QoL group, n=75). Compared with Cluster 2 with high QoL, Cluster 1 with low QoL exhibited more depressive symptoms as indicated by higher CES-D (p< .001) and PHQ-9 (p< .001).
Conclusion: This study revealed that Korean American midlife women exhibited different depressive symptoms depending on their QoL. It suggests that a segmented approach based on QoL is required for midlife women rather than a single group approach. Further research is needed on depression nursing interventions to examine the patterns of improvement in depressive symptoms across different QoL groups. Based on these findings, tailored depression nursing interventions can be developed according to specific groups by their QoL.
Notes
References:
1. Refaei M, Mardanpour S, Masoumi SZ, Parsa P. Women's experiences in the transition to menopause: a qualitative research. BMC Women's Health. 2022;22(1):53. Epub 20220226. doi: 10.1186/s12905-022-01633-0. PubMed PMID: 35219295; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8882304.
2. Taylor-Swanson L, Stoddard K, Fritz J, Anderson BB, Cortez M, Conboy L, et al. Midlife Women's Menopausal Transition Symptom Experience and Access to Medical and Integrative Health Care: Informing the Development of MENOGAP. Glob Adv Integr Med Health. 2024;13:27536130241268355. Epub 20240730. doi: 10.1177/27536130241268355. PubMed PMID: 39092447; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11292722.
3. Wood K, McCarthy S, Pitt H, Randle M, Thomas SL. Women's experiences and expectations during the menopause transition: a systematic qualitative narrative review. Health Promot Int. 2025;40(1). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaf005. PubMed PMID: 40036278; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11878557.
4. Zou P, Waliwitiya T, Luo Y, Sun W, Shao J, Zhang H, et al. Factors influencing healthy menopause among immigrant women: a scoping review. BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):189. Epub 20210506. doi: 10.1186/s12905-021-01327-z. PubMed PMID: 33957910; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8101137.
5. Lee S, Jang M, Kim D, Kim K. Association between Menopausal Women's Quality of Life and Aging Anxiety: The Role of Life Satisfaction and Depression. Medicina (Kaunas). 2024;60(8). Epub 20240723. doi: 10.3390/medicina60081189. PubMed PMID: 39202471; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11356423.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Health Equity or Social Determinants of Health, Public Community Health, Depression, Depression--In Middle Age, Women's Health, Korean Americans, Quality of Life
Recommended Citation
Kim, Yeeun; Baek, Jiwon; Kim, Dongmi; Ryu, Seulgi; Chee, Wonshik; and Im, Eun-Ok, "Depressive Symptoms by the Quality of Life Among Korean American Midlife Women" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 44.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/posters_2026/44
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-07-29
Depressive Symptoms by the Quality of Life Among Korean American Midlife Women
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Background: Midlife women experience a major developmental transition involving multidimensional changes (physical, psychological, and social changes), before, during, and after their menopause (1-4). During this transition, the women’s depressive symptoms could be linked to their quality of life (5). However, few studies have been conducted on the women’s depressive symptoms by their quality of life. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of depressive symptoms by the QoL among Korean American midlife women and provide directions for future interventions for this specific population.
Methods: This is a part of an ongoing randomized controlled trial of Korean American midlife women. The main eligibility criteria were: 1) being aged 40–65 and 2) experiencing depressive symptoms within the last two weeks, but not depression. A total of 169 baseline data was used for analysis. QoL was measured using WHOQOL-BREF, which has four subscales: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environmental health. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). A K-means cluster analysis was conducted using WHOQOL subscales. The optimal cluster number (k=2) was calculated by NbClust in R. Independent T-test and chi-square test were conducted to compare the cluster characteristics.
Results: The K-means analysis revealed two clusters. Cluster 1 (low QoL group, n=94) showed lower scores on all QoL subscales (p< .001), compared with Cluster 2 (high QoL group, n=75). Compared with Cluster 2 with high QoL, Cluster 1 with low QoL exhibited more depressive symptoms as indicated by higher CES-D (p< .001) and PHQ-9 (p< .001).
Conclusion: This study revealed that Korean American midlife women exhibited different depressive symptoms depending on their QoL. It suggests that a segmented approach based on QoL is required for midlife women rather than a single group approach. Further research is needed on depression nursing interventions to examine the patterns of improvement in depressive symptoms across different QoL groups. Based on these findings, tailored depression nursing interventions can be developed according to specific groups by their QoL.
Description
Middle-aged Korean American women with a low quality of life exhibited higher levels of depressive symptoms. Tailored interventions are needed to improve depressive symptoms in the low quality of life middle-aged women.