“A day-to-day struggle”: A comparative qualitative study on experiences of women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain

Alexandra Hawkey, Jane Chalmers, Sowbhagya Micheal, Helene Diezel, Mike Armour
In: Feminism & Psychology · 2022 · vol. 32(4) , pp. 482–500 · doi:10.1177/09593535221083846 · W4225656423
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 43 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This qualitative study explored experiences of women with endometriosis and non-endometriosis chronic pelvic pain, finding shared impacts on relationships and fertility, but differing communication challenges and access to support networks.

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Abstract

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in women is a term that encompasses a range of conditions, including endometriosis, vulvodynia, painful bladder syndrome and adenomyosis. Given the impact on penetrative sex, fertility and potentially motherhood, CPP may also impact on women's identities as a wife or partner, a mother, and a woman. The aim of this study was to explore similarities and differences in experiences of women with endometriosis and non-endometriosis related CPP. A total of 17 participants aged between 21 and 48 years old participated in three focus groups. Using reflexive thematic analysis three main themes were found: the struggling woman, the unheard woman and the self-silenced woman. Women, regardless of the cause of their CPP, reported significant impacts on their intimate relationships, fertility, and parenting but those with non-endometriosis CPP often reported greater trouble communicating about pelvic pain in the workplace due to the “taboo” nature of discussing their vulval pain. Many participants described how a societal normalisation of pelvic pain resulted in women silencing their experiences, rendering their pain invisible. While women wanted to resist such silencing through information and support seeking, women with non-endometriosis CPP described fewer avenues to accessing credible informational resources or networks for support.

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Condition tags

endometriosisadenomyosischronic_pelvic_pain

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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