How Women with Endometriosis Experience Health Care Encounters

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this meta-synthesis was to synthesize and interpret the available qualitative studies to increase our understanding and extend knowledge about how women with endometriosis experience health care encounters. Methods: The literature review was carried out using CINAHL, Psychinfo, Academic Search Premier, PubMed, and Scopus, from 2000 to 2018, and was limited to articles in English. Articles were only included if they reported original relevant research on endometriosis and women experiences. Results: The meta-synthesis was based on 14 relevant studies. They included 370 women with diagnosed endometriosis, 16?78 years of age. Three fusions were identified and interpreted in this meta-synthesis. The first was: Insufficiency knowledge, where the physicians could judge the symptoms to be normal menstruation without examining whether there were other underlying causes. The second fusion was Trivializing?just a women's issue, where the physicians thought that the symptoms were part of being a woman, and women's' discomfort was trivialized or completely disregarded. The third fusion was Competency promotes health, where the insufficiency of knowledge became a minor concern if women had a supportive relationship with their physician and the physician showed interest in their problems. Conclusions: Women with endometriosis experience that they are treated with ignorance regarding endometriosis in nonspecialized care. They experience delays in both their diagnosis and treatment and feel that health care professionals do not take their problems seriously. In addition, it appears that increased expertise and improved attitudes among health care professionals could improve the life situation of women with endometriosis.

Keywords

• endometriosis
• health care encounter
• hermeneutics
• meta-synthesis
• qualitative research
• women's experiences