Assessing healthcare needs in endometriosis: a scoping review

Vladimíra Timková, Pavol Mikula, Zuzana Katreniaková, Katreniakova Z, Zuzana Katreniakova, Howick J, Jeremy Howick, Iveta Nagyová
Psychology & health · 2025 · vol. 41(5) , pp. 635–673 · doi:10.1080/08870446.2025.2478154 · PMID:40108880 · W4408653444
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This scoping review identified patient and healthcare professional perspectives on barriers and facilitators to endometriosis management, including awareness, communication, and empathy, which are crucial for improving care.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Women with endometriosis still have to seek the legitimacy of their disease from the medical community and often feel unheard. This scoping review aims to map the scientific literature to describe barriers and facilitators in the endometriosis management from both patients' and healthcare professionals' (HCPs') perspectives. METHODS AND MEASURES: We searched the literature published between 2012 and 2023 in the Web of Science, PsychInfo, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. A total of 52 eligible studies were identified. RESULTS: We observed several barriers in the endometriosis management: the perception of patients as challenging and psychosomatic; lack of awareness and medical knowledge; persistent taboos and biases; challenging communication about pain, pregnancy, and infertility; lack of empathy from HCPs; and barriers in diagnostic tools and healthcare accessibility. Key facilitators were HCPs and community awareness; taking patients' symptoms seriously; compassionate communication about fertility and pain; shared decision-making, encouraging patients to seek evidence-based information; and multidisciplinary support. CONCLUSION: We were able to identify concrete barriers and facilitators to successful endometriosis management. Future research is now required to identify optimal ways to implement this evidence, and research the extent to which it applies to more diverse populations in non-Western setting, and to explore the impact of HCP demographic characteristics.
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Abstract

Objective Women with endometriosis still have to seek the legitimacy of their disease from the medical community and often feel unheard. This scoping review aims to map the scientific literature to describe barriers and facilitators in the endometriosis management from both patients’ and healthcare professionals’ (HCPs’) perspectives.

Methods

and measures We searched the literature published between 2012 and 2023 in the Web of Science, PsychInfo, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. A total of 52 eligible studies were identified.

Results

We observed several barriers in the endometriosis management: the perception of patients as challenging and psychosomatic; lack of awareness and medical knowledge; persistent taboos and biases; challenging communication about pain, pregnancy, and infertility; lack of empathy from HCPs; and barriers in diagnostic tools and healthcare accessibility. Key facilitators were HCPs and community awareness; taking patients’ symptoms seriously; compassionate communication about fertility and pain; shared decision-making, encouraging patients to seek evidence-based information; and multidisciplinary support.

Conclusion

We were able to identify concrete barriers and facilitators to successful endometriosis management. Future research is now required to identify optimal ways to implement this evidence, and research the extent to which it applies to more diverse populations in non-Western setting, and to explore the impact of HCP demographic characteristics. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). Registration INPLASY202430109. Data availability statement The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study will be available on request.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis

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.

References (100)

Cited by (3)

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