Hvordan påvirker endometriose livskvaliteten til kvinner, og hvordan kan sykepleiere på en best mulig måte møte denne pasientgruppen?

How does endometriosis affect women's quality of life, and how can nurses take care of this patient group?Background: Quite a big part of the female population suffer from endometriosis, which is an invisible illness.As nurses it is likely to meet this patient group.Many people don't know much about this illness, and it's important that it get more attention from health personnel. Question: How does endometriosis affect women's quality of life, and how can nurses take care of this patient group?Method: This is a literature study.To find relevant research articles I used the following databases; Cinahl, Medline and SveMed+.Inclusion criterias for the articles were that they said something about how endometriosis affect women and how health professionals should act around this patient group.To check the quality of the articles, checklists from National Knowledge center for Health Service were used.Findings: Four researched articles were included.The studies show that women are negatively affected by endometriosis.The symptoms makes the women feel a lack of control over their lives.They experience inadequate support and understanding from social relationships and health professionals. Conclusion:Endometriosis is a chronic disease with severe pain and it affects women's quality of life negatively.Health professionals need more knowledge so that their attitude towards the disease changes, and the womens get the support and understanding they need.To gain a good follow-up for women with endometriosis, interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary.