The effect of a self-care support program on self-care behaviors, quality of life, and psychological health in women with endometriosis: a randomized controlled study

Women with endometriosis often experience pain-related symptoms that negatively affect their daily lives, overall health, and well-being. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the Endometriosis Self-Care Support Program (ESSP) on quality of life, self-care behaviors, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress. A randomised controlled research design was adopted. This study was conducted between May 2024 and June 2025 with 65 women with endometriosis. This phase included two groups: the intervention group (ESSP group) received the ESSP, comprising structured education and motivational interviewing based on Orem’s Self-Care Model, while the control group received standard care. The “Endometriosis Health Profile Questionnaire-5 (EHP-5)”, the “Endometriosis Self-Care Behaviors Scale (ESCBS)” and the “Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)” were administered to both groups as a pre-test prior to the intervention, as a post-test immediately after the intervention (at the 1st month), and as a follow-up test three months post-intervention. In addition, data were collected using the “Participant Identification Form”. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups regarding baseline (pre-test) scores on the EHP-5, ESCBS, and the depression, anxiety, and stress subscales of the DASS-21 (p > 0.05). Post-test and follow-up ESCBS scores were significantly higher in the ESSP group (p < 0.05), while EHP-5 and DASS-21 depression and anxiety scores were significantly lower (p 0.05). Women who received the ESSP had higher quality of life and greater self-care behaviors. Additionally, their levels of depression and anxiety were lower. Similar content being viewed by others Data availability Research data are not shared.

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We are grateful to the women with endometriosis in our study. Funding The authors have received financial support from The Marmara University Scentific Research Projects Unit (Project ID: 10964). Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions Both authors were involved in all planning, writing andrevision stages of the study. The corresponding author at-tests that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and that no others meeting the criteria have been omitted. Corresponding author Ethics declarations Consent to publish Written informed consent was obtained from all participating women with endometriosis for the publication of anonymized data and information included in this study. All participants were informed about the purpose and scope of the research and agreed that their data may be published provided that their identities remain confidential and no identifying information is disclosed. Conflict of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest. Additional information Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Rights and permissions Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. About this article Cite this article Tarus, H.A., Demirci, N. The effect of a self-care support program on self-care behaviors, quality of life, and psychological health in women with endometriosis: a randomized controlled study. Curr Psychol 45, 1191 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-026-09715-0 Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-026-09715-0