Family Experiences, Challenges, and Coping Strategies During Women’s Perimenopause: A Qualitative Systematic Review Protocol

Background Perimenopause represents a critical biopsychosocial transition affecting women globally, with profound impacts extending beyond individual experiences to encompass entire family systems. While research has documented various perimenopausal symptoms including vasomotor, psychological, and cognitive changes, limited attention has been given to how families as units experience and navigate this transition.

This systematic review protocol aims to synthesize qualitative evidence on family experiences, challenges, and coping strategies during women’s perimenopause, addressing gaps in family-centered perspectives within existing literature.

Following PRISMA-P guidelines, we will search eight databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and Scopus) from inception to October 2025. The PICo framework guides eligibility criteria focusing on family members of perimenopausal women, their experiences and coping strategies across diverse contexts. Covidence will facilitate study screening and selection. Quality assessment will employ the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist, with risk of bias evaluated using domain-based assessment. Thematic synthesis and meta-ethnographic approaches will analyze extracted data. CERQual will assess confidence in synthesized findings.

This protocol anticipates generating comprehensive synthesis revealing family system impacts, typology of challenges, categorization of coping strategies, identification of cultural variations, and documentation of support system gaps. Evidence generated will inform development of family-centered interventions, clinical guidelines, and support systems addressing the multifaceted challenges families face during perimenopausal transitions. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript