The Endometriosis-Related Healthcare Experiences of Regional Australian Women: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Jessica Spain, Dimitra Lattas, Zalia Powell, Cindy Davis
In: Australian Social Work · 2026 · pp. 1–17 · doi:10.1080/0312407x.2025.2609823 · W7135034165
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This qualitative systematic review explored the healthcare experiences of women with endometriosis living in regional Australia.

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This qualitative systematic review synthesized peer-reviewed qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method studies on regional Australian women’s experiences of endometriosis-related healthcare, searching Scopus, Medline, PubMed, and CINAHL and including nine articles after quality assessment using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and PRISMA-guided reporting. Thematic analysis identified major themes including experiences around diagnosis, women as experts, treatment, and ongoing healthcare. The authors found that the existing literature overlooks regional-specific endometriosis-related healthcare experiences in Australia, which they characterize as a limitation and a gap. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it specifically examines regional Australian women’s endometriosis-related healthcare experiences and the literature’s regional underrepresentation.

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ABSTRACT Endometriosis is a common but complex disease that predominantly affects women, with biological, psychological, and social impacts across multiple domains. For regional women, their geographical location can create a unique barrier to obtaining endometriosis healthcare. This systematic literature review sought to analyse literature on regional Australian women's experiences of endometriosis-related healthcare. Databases selected for this review were Scopus, Medline, PubMed and CINAHL. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method peer-reviewed studies were included in the search. Following assessment of inclusion and exclusion criteria and the assessment of quality, nine articles were included in the review. PRISMA standards inform reporting methods of this review. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of studies reviewed. Thematic analysis revealed prominent themes of diagnosis, women as experts, treatment, and ongoing healthcare, which are consistent with general experiences of endometriosis healthcare across Australia. However, existing literature was found to overlook regional-specific endometriosis-related healthcare experiences in Australia. Findings suggest that regionally focused research is needed into endometriosis-related healthcare experiences, and that social work can act to address barriers to healthcare for endometriosis across practice and research settings. IMPLICATIONS Women’s experiences with endometriosis healthcare can be exacerbated by living in a regional area. Australian women seek complementary and alternative medicine approaches when taking agency over their endometriosis healthcare journey. Regional women’s endometriosis-related healthcare experiences are poorly represented in the literature, and further research is needed to ensure that lived experiences inform healthcare, practice and policy. Inequity in endometriosis healthcare is a social justice issue for regional women that needs increased social work attention. Disclosure Statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). Notes 1 The language used in this article was carefully deliberated by the authors. Although the terms woman/women are used in this review to refer to the main demographic of people with endometriosis, the authors would like to acknowledge that intersex, transgender, nonbinary people and males can experience endometriosis, and can experience additional and unique barriers to endometriosis healthcare.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

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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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