Women go through unique physiological phases including puberty, childbearing and menopause, while also coping with social challenges in career, family and interpersonal relationships—all objective factors affecting their physical and mental health. At the recent China Maternal and Child Health Academic Conference co-hosted by the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, the George Institute for Global Health and the United Nations Population Fund, reporters interviewed numerous industry experts about targeted physical and mental healthcare for women.
Two Key Life Stages to Focus On
Adolescent girls experience drastic physiological and endocrine shifts that reshape all bodily systems. Ma Jun, Director of the Peking University Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, stated that psychological development often lags behind physical maturation during this period. “Their physical and mental state is volatile, compounded by academic pressure and peer interactions, putting them at high risk of personality, interpersonal and emotional troubles.”
Ma Jun emphasized that family affection is vital to adolescent girls’ mental health. Parental guidance, encouragement and support serve as a core guarantee for sound psychological development. Maternal and child healthcare institutions at all levels shall deliver adolescent physical and mental health services, including psychological counseling, mental screening and stress relief interventions, to address teenagers’ physical and mental issues in a scientific and effective manner.
Women also undergo profound physical, psychological and social role transformations during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Domestic research shows the incidence of pregnancy-related anxiety stands at 21.7% among women in the second and third trimesters, while the rate among women expecting a second child reaches 16.38%. The average prevalence of postpartum depression is 14.7%. Emotional disturbances in expectant and new mothers raise risks of preterm birth, miscarriage, postpartum hemorrhage and clinical depression; severe depressive cases carry suicidal ideation and exert adverse impacts on infants’ temperament, emotion, intelligence, behavior and emotional development. Timely psychological intervention during pregnancy and postpartum can mitigate severe threats posed by negative moods to maternal and infant well-being. Experts listed effective mental health approaches for this phase: health education, group psychological counseling for pregnant and postpartum women, prenatal wellness courses, psychological screening and assessment, and one-on-one psychotherapy.
Troubles Brought by Menopausal Syndrome
According to China Yearbook 2017, the average life expectancy for Chinese women has reached 79.43 years, meaning women spend more than one-third of their lives in menopause (aged 50 and above). “Over 120 million women in China suffer severely from menopausal syndrome each year,” said Professor Li Fen from the Maternal and Child Health Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine. It is projected that the number of women aged over 50 in China will exceed 280 million by 2030. As ovarian function declines, hormonal fluctuations trigger a cascade of symptoms among menopausal women stemming from physiological, psychological and social changes: menstrual irregularities, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disorders, mood disorders and urogenital atrophy. Sufferers commonly experience low mood, anxiety, depression, irritability and tantrums, which greatly impair physical and mental wellness.
Epidemiological surveys reveal that 23.8% of Chinese menopausal women live with depression, and 10.3% endure co-occurring depression and anxiety. Zheng Ruimin, Director of the Women’s Health Division at the National Center for Women and Children’s Health, China CDC, and fellow researchers conducted trials of mindfulness-based stress reduction on menopausal women with dedicated assessment tools. Results demonstrated that this technique elevates their sense of well-being and significantly reduces depression severity scores.