{"paper_id":"969818db-1b27-4052-bffb-0d241009f87c","body_text":"Abstract\nIn endometriosis, helplessness and hopelessness (demoralization) and having one’s illness dismissed by others (illness invalidation) are reported qualitatively. Selfcompassion may protect against such adverse psychological outcomes. We investigated whether the association between illness invalidation and demoralization is moderated by self-compassion. Participants (n=177) completed an online survey: Demoralization Scale II, Illness Invalidation Inventory, Self-Compassion ScaleSF. Regression analyses confirmed an association between illness invalidation, self-compassion and demoralization, with no moderating effect. Illness invalidation from family, healthcare professionals, and the workplace was greatest. These findings suggest the need for targeted psychoeducation and communication skills interventions to increase awareness in social and dyadic contexts.\nAuthorship Contributions\nCRediT: Mia Levin: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing; Vashna Singh: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing; Brenda Stewart: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing; Kerry A. Sherman: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.\nDisclosure Statement\nNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).\nAttestation Statements\nData generated from this study have not been previously published. Data will be made available to the editors of the journal pre and/or post publication for review or query upon request. The appropriate checklist for this study design was followed (STROBE checklist: cross-sectional studies; Supplementary File 1).\nData Availability Statement\nData that support these findings may be made available on request to the corresponding authors.","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}