{"paper_id":"ca045935-764f-4045-b831-32fadf5c5d17","body_text":"Abstract\nPurpose\nQualitative research has received growing attention in the multidisciplinary investigation of patients' perceptions about chronic diseases. The purpose of this systematic review was to characterize the usage of qualitative research in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP).\nMethods\nWe performed a structured search in Web of Science, Pubmed, and EMBASE platforms until June 2019. The search combined the keywords: \"pelvic pain\", \"endometriosis\", \"dyspareunia\", \"dysmenorrhea\", \"vaginismus\", \"focus groups\", \"qualitative research\", \"hermeneutics\", \"grounded theory\", and \"women\". Qualitative studies on female CPP were included and the main findings combined using thematic synthesis.\nResults\nWe found 1211 citations, of which 52 were included in this review. The majority of included studies were based on phenomenological design. The main method for data collection was semi-structured interviews. Endometriosis was the theme of 23 studies, chronic pelvic pain of eight, dysmenorrhea of eight, dyspareunia of four, interstitial cystitis of two, vaginismus of two, vulvodynia of two, and pelvic inflammatory disease of one study. We found a wide variety of contributions. Among them, the impact of the disease on women's lives was the commonest.\nConclusion\nQualitative research has the potential to reveal and explain several aspects of CPP in women. The medical community may better accept knowledge gained from these studies if the methods are described more transparently in published articles.\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nReferences\nHoward FM (1993) The role of laparoscopy in chronic pelvic pain: promise and pitfalls. Obstet Gynecol Surv 48:357–387\nBroder MS, Kanouse DE, Mittman BS, Bernstein SJ (2000) The appropriateness of recommendations for hysterectomy. 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BHM (Grant No. 23038.000832/2018-31) was funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).\nAuthor information\nAuthors and Affiliations\nContributions\nBHM protocol development, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript editing. TLP protocol development and data collection. OBPN, JCRS, and AAN manuscript editing. FJCR protocol development, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing.\nCorresponding author\nEthics declarations\nConflict of interest\nThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest related to the contents of this article.\nAdditional information\nPublisher's Note\nSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.\nRights and permissions\nAbout this article\nCite this article\nMellado, B.H., Pilger, T.L., Poli-Neto, O.B. et al. Current usage of qualitative research in female pelvic pain: a systematic review. Arch Gynecol Obstet 300, 495–501 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-019-05212-x\nReceived:\nAccepted:\nPublished:\nVersion of record:\nIssue date:\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-019-05212-x","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}