Current usage of qualitative research in female pelvic pain: a systematic review

Purpose Qualitative research has received growing attention in the multidisciplinary investigation of patients' perceptions about chronic diseases. The purpose of this systematic review was to characterize the usage of qualitative research in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Methods We per...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of gynecology and obstetrics 2019-09, Vol.300 (3), p.495-501
Main Authors: Mellado, Bruna Helena, Pilger, Taynara Louisi, Poli-Neto, Omero Benedicto, Rosa e Silva, Julio Cesar, Nogueira, Antonio Alberto, Candido dos Reis, Francisco José
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Chronic Disease
Chronic illnesses
Chronic Pain
Cystitis, Interstitial
Dysmenorrhea
Dyspareunia
Endocrinology
Endometriosis
Female
Gynecology
Human Genetics
Humans
Hysterectomy
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Obstetrics/Perinatology/Midwifery
Pain
Pelvic Pain
Qualitative Research
Review
Systematic review
Womens health
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Summary:Purpose Qualitative research has received growing attention in the multidisciplinary investigation of patients' perceptions about chronic diseases. The purpose of this systematic review was to characterize the usage of qualitative research in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Methods We performed a structured search in Web of Science, Pubmed, and EMBASE platforms until June 2019. The search combined the keywords: "pelvic pain", "endometriosis", "dyspareunia", "dysmenorrhea", "vaginismus", "focus groups", "qualitative research", "hermeneutics", "grounded theory", and "women". Qualitative studies on female CPP were included and the main findings combined using thematic synthesis. Results We found 1211 citations, of which 52 were included in this review. The majority of included studies were based on phenomenological design. The main method for data collection was semi-structured interviews. Endometriosis was the theme of 23 studies, chronic pelvic pain of eight, dysmenorrhea of eight, dyspareunia of four, interstitial cystitis of two, vaginismus of two, vulvodynia of two, and pelvic inflammatory disease of one study. We found a wide variety of contributions. Among them, the impact of the disease on women's lives was the commonest. Conclusion Qualitative research has the potential to reveal and explain several aspects of CPP in women. The medical community may better accept knowledge gained from these studies if the methods are described more transparently in published articles.
ISSN:0932-0067
1432-0711
DOI:10.1007/s00404-019-05212-x