Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/36339
Appears in Collections:Psychology Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Women’s experiences of seeking healthcare for abdominal pain in Ireland: a qualitative study
Author(s): Windrim, Eibhlín B
McGuire, Brian E
Durand, Hannah
Contact Email: hannah.durand@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Abdominal pain
Women's health
Health inequities
Health care seeking behaviour
Health services accessibility
Qualitative research
Issue Date: 7-Mar-2024
Date Deposited: 27-Sep-2024
Citation: Windrim EB, McGuire BE & Durand H (2024) Women’s experiences of seeking healthcare for abdominal pain in Ireland: a qualitative study. <i>BMC Women's Health</i>, 24, Art. No.: 166. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-02995-3
Abstract: Background Evidence suggests that women's abdominal pain is more likely to be minimised or dismissed by healthcare professionals than men's. This can have a detrimental impact on health-related outcomes as well as quality of life. The aim of this study was to explore women's experiences of seeking healthcare for abdominal pain in Ireland. Method A qualitative design and opportunity sampling approach were employed in this study. Fourteen women living in Ireland with experience of seeking healthcare for abdominal pain took part in one-to-one semi-structured interviews via video-conferencing software. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Four themes were constructed from the data: [1] "Just Get on with It"-Normalisation and Invalidation; [2] "Bad Enough"? Costs of (Not) Seeking Help; [3] "Fight Your Case, " Fight for Care; and [4] "Out of the Loop"-Systemic Barriers to Care. Perceived invalidation of pain by healthcare professionals was common, as was internalised normalisation of pain. This created challenges when negotiating pain management solutions. Despite functional interference, participants felt their pain needed to reach an extreme level of severity before seeking help. Costs of private healthcare were implicated in delayed help-seeking. Participants felt the onus was on them to fight for care. Social support and information-seeking facilitated participants in this fight while systemic issues were identified as barriers to adequate care. Despite their frustrations, participants expressed empathy for healthcare professionals operating in a flawed system. Conclusions Participants described mostly negative experiences of seeking healthcare for abdominal pain, characterised by dismissal of symptoms and internalisation of normative views of women's pain as less worthy of care. These experiences reinforced participants' views that self-advocacy is essential to access care for their pain. There are systemic issues at play within the Irish healthcare system that limit women's ability to access abdominal pain management support. Education and training for healthcare professionals on the Gender Pain Gap and its implications for patient care, as well as clear referral pathways for women presenting with abdominal pain, may help to ensure more equitable healthcare delivery for individuals with abdominal pain in Ireland.
DOI Link: 10.1186/s12905-024-02995-3
Rights: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
s12905-024-02995-3.pdfFulltext - Published Version1.55 MBAdobe PDFView/Open



This item is protected by original copyright



A file in this item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons

Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.