Navigating the journey to menses cessation: a study of change in an emancipatory context.

Purpose: This article explores contemporary women's perceptions of the experience of the menopausal process within the Western industrialized culture, describes and synthesizes the processes used by women to evaluate available information, and explores and facilitates processes used by women to envision and create change in their life world.

Method: An emancipatory group process was designed to facilitate dialogue between the investigator and nine women who met as a group eight times during a 10-week period in the home of one of the participants.

Findings: Participants identified menses cessation as a time of change in all aspects of their lives.