Objectives: The purposes of the present study were to assess the factorial structure and reliability of the Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS), and provide normative data for a sample of postmenopausal Portuguese women.
Methods: A sample of 401 Caucasian women, with ages between 47 and 91 years, divided into four age groups (47-57: 31.4%, 58-68: 40.4%, 69-79: 21.4% and ≥80: 6.7%), voluntarily participated in the study. The Greene Climacteric Scale aims to measure psychological symptoms divided into anxiety and depression, somatic and vasomotor symptoms with a total of 21 items. Data were analyzed by reliability, correlation and confirmatory factor analyses. Age group differences in the raw and the standardized scores of symptoms clusters were investigated by means of ANOVA procedures.
Results: The CFA performed supported the 4-factor structure specified by Greene (*CFI=0.937; SRMR=0.046; *RMSEA (90%IC)=0.050 (0.042-0.058). The computed internal consistency estimates ranged from 0.73 to 0.90. Vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and sweating at night) were experienced most frequently by the younger age group (47-57 years) while nonspecific symptoms (e.g. difficulty in concentrating, feeling tired or lacking in energy, breathing difficulties) were reported more frequently by the older age groups.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the Portuguese version of the GCS is a reliable and a valid instrument for the measurement of climacteric-related factors in postmenopausal women.
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