Need answers for school

[LLH]

I am taking graduate level research and I am having trouble finding articles for a project that I have to do. I have to write a research proposal and my question is Does HRT significantly decrease the risk of depression in post menopausal women? The problem that I am having is I'm not finding too many journal articles regarding the correlation between the two. I have found plenty on HRT and on depression but most of the HRT ones regard osteo, breast ca, & heart disease. If anyone can help me out, thanks.

Lolita

[karenG]

maybe its time to find a research question you can answer!!! take it you have searched medline etc?

Karen

[caliotter3]

I'm sorry I can't help you with your question. Didn't finish my research class when I had to quit school, but I am finally on HRT and only see minor improvements in menopausal symptoms. But lately I am so depressed I can't stand it, but I think it has to do with cardiac problems. I am sick of trying to find approp med care (I have no insurance right now). The ob-gyn spec I went to wants to do a hysterectomy for my fibroids, which I just plain don't want. Whenever, you get where you are headed with your higher educ you will have a wealth of material (us menopausal women) to use for subjects for your own research! Maybe you do need to change your subject! Good luck anyhow!

[llg, PhD, RN]

As KarenG said ... you may not be able to find what you are looking for because the research hasn't been done! Also, I would think that most research on that (and related) topics would not be found in the nursing literature, but in the literature of other fields. For example, consider the physiological effects of the hormones themselves, physiological foundations for depression, etc. A lot of that material would most likely be found in phyisiology and pharmacology literature. You might have to go there to find a reason to suspect that there might be a correlation between HRT and depression.

You may even find that the topic is not a good one to fulfill this particular student project. That, of course, will depend on the particular requirements of the course and on your willingness to do some extra work, if necessary, to do the project right. For example, if the course requires that you build on previous nursing research and that research doesn't exist, then you might want to explore another topic. On the other hand, the course might not have such a requirement and yours could be the first study on the topic -- perhaps a simple study looking for a correlation between the two variables. A positive result would indicate the need for future study.

Good luck,

llg