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This systematic review adds to the growing interest in the subjective experiences of menopause at work. We take a Power Threat Meaning Framework lens to examine how menopausal women make sense of and respond to their experiences at work. The results indicate that the power associated with the ideal worker standard can be perceived as a threat to menopausal women. In addition to the biological experience of symptoms, workplace factors and individual beliefs influence women’s meaning-making processes, exacerbating or alleviating the sense of threat and impacting women’s threat response and potential emotional distress. Women engage in different coping strategies to reduce distress, depending on their level of agency. We contribute to the literature by introducing the subjective menopause at work conceptual model, explaining how women’s lived experiences of menopause impact their responses and potential outcomes. Our subjective menopause at work conceptual model can be used to inform organizational practices, initiatives and interventions.
The results indicate that the power associated with the ideal worker standard can be perceived as a threat to menopausal women.
multiple thematic sources support the direction, though the narrative synthesis and incomplete evidence inventory limit certainty
Workplace factors and individual beliefs influence women’s meaning-making processes, exacerbating or alleviating the sense of threat and impacting women’s threat response and potential emotional distress.
largely qualitative and cross-sectional evidence cannot directly identify the proposed influence and threat mechanism
Women engage in different coping strategies to reduce distress, depending on their level of agency.
the high-, mid-, and low-agency typology is an author-constructed interpretation with limited direct testing
Our analysis suggests that menopause support needs to target both organizational factors and individual beliefs and attitudes to effectively ease the potential emotional distress and improve women’s well-being.
no included study tested the combined organisational and individual intervention prescribed by the conclusion
Derived from the full evaluation — not a separate score.
Strengths
The three themes are brought together in a model linking ideal-worker power, workplace and individual meaning-making, perceived threat, coping, and agency. This gives the heterogeneous literature a clear organising structure.
↳ Results and Subjective Menopause at Work conceptual model, pp. 99–106; Figure 2
Both authors coded the study characteristics, independently cross-checked studies, discussed discrepancies, and jointly refined the final themes. The analysis also focused on the empirical results sections of included studies.
↳ Description of variables and Analytical approach, pp. 98–99
The discussion and conclusion identify workplace leadership, managers, and those responsible for initiatives as prospective users, with examples including adjustments, training, coaching, and group-facilitated sessions.
↳ Discussion and Conclusion, pp. 107–109
Limitations
The review reports only “(menopause) and (work),” without database-specific strings, dates, or transparent stage-by-stage counts explaining the reduction from 101,179 records to 22 studies. This creates substantial uncertainty about completeness and selection.
↳ Literature search and Data set, p. 97; Figure 1
Table 1 describes Hardy et al. (2018) as an experimental CBT booklet study, while the reference list identifies the included item as a guidance overview. This internal inconsistency reduces confidence that the evidence inventory is accurately represented.
↳ Table 1, pp. 100–101; References, p. 111
All 22 studies are said to pass JBI appraisal, but study-level results are not shown and evidence is not differentiated by quality in the themes or conclusions. The effectiveness-oriented recommendations consequently lack an explicit certainty basis.
↳ Study quality, pp. 97–98; Results and Conclusion, pp. 99–108
The paper’s main value lies in its coherent use of the PTMF to organise ideal-worker power, meaning-making, threat, coping, and agency into a testable conceptual model. Methodological confidence is substantially reduced because the search on p. 97 lacks dates and database-specific strategies, while the reported 101,179 records are not transparently accounted for. The JBI appraisal is described but not reported study by study or used to qualify the synthesis, and Table 1 conflicts with the reference list over Hardy et al. (2018). Clear structure and a visible research agenda support the communication and trajectory scores, but the unvalidated model does not justify claims about what support will effectively improve well-being.
Nabu’s assessment, alongside the field’s view.
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Limited2.6
Confidence mediumThe review provides an identifiable conceptual contribution by organising 22 studies through the PTMF and proposing the Subjective Menopause at Work model. The advance is incremental because ideal-worker power, meaning-making, and coping already feature in the underlying literature, and the model remains untested.
“Research in this domain would build on the initial findings in this area and serve to validate our model.”
The review reports inclusion criteria, JBI appraisal, dual coding, and a narrative thematic synthesis, but its search cannot be reproduced and appraisal findings are not integrated into the conclusions. Three serious methodological failures therefore bind the score at 2.0.
“The following search terms were used: (menopause) and (work).”
The article moves coherently from the PTMF and review question through three themes to an integrative model. Its communication is reduced by effectiveness-oriented recommendations that are stronger than the unvalidated synthesis warrants, although the need for validation is visible in the body.
“Research in this domain would build on the initial findings in this area and serve to validate our model.”
The paper engages workplace-menopause research, PTMF, ideal-worker theory, and intersectionality, but competing psychosocial frameworks receive only brief treatment. Its acknowledgement that the model needs validation is not carried through to the definite effectiveness-oriented recommendation, triggering a 2.8 ceiling.
“Our analysis suggests that menopause support needs to target both organizational factors and individual beliefs and attitudes.”
Caveats4 of 4 checks
The reported study inventory contains a specific citation-characterisation mismatch, and the scale of the search yield is insufficiently explained. These issues reduce confidence in the inventory without establishing that the thematic findings are invalid.
No conflict of interest is declared, and participant ethics approval is not applicable to this literature review. The unreported protocol registration and absence of data or code availability statements are reporting or assessability gaps rather than evidence of misconduct.
Flags: 1 declared / 5 total
57 of 57 checked DOIs point to the cited work
73 references in manuscript 63 of 63 checkable references found in an index 10 have no canonical index record — counted, but not index-checkable 1 reference confirmed by manual review
No retraction notice found in Retraction Watch.
Sources: Retraction Watch ✓
Where this paper’s evidence sits on the path from initial observation to real-world use.
The output is an unvalidated conceptual model rather than an implementation study, tested intervention, or operational tool. Suggested training, coaching, and facilitated sessions therefore require substantial further development and evaluation.
“Research in this domain would build on the initial findings in this area and serve to validate our model.”
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