Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Women's experience of endometriosis

Primary Supervisor: Dr Alex Hawkey (opens in a new window)

Endometriosis is the most common cause of chronic pelvic pain, affecting approximately 10% of reproductive-age women. It has significant physical, psychological and social implications for women, negatively impacting quality of life. Despite the prevalence of endometriosis and the profound negative effects it has on women’s lives, significant gaps in research exist. Within this sphere, there is a predominance of research that focuses on White Western women’s experiences, meaning the lived experiences, outcomes and healthcare needs of women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds are poorly understood.

Understanding how women construct and experience, menstruation and menstrual disorders across cultural contexts is important as different cultural knowledge, beliefs and practices shape how women feel about their reproductive bodies, impact on menstrual literacy and influence help seeking behaviours. To capture how gender, socio-economic status, culture and other categories of difference may impact on women’s experiences, further research is needed from an intersectional perspective.

Opportunities exist for PhD projects within the scope this research. Interested individuals may undertake a PhD exploring endometriosis in a particular CALD group they may be interested in or have a connection to, or across different cultural contexts. To explore broader constructions and experiences of menstruation and menstrual disorders, a mixed-method PhD study design would be preferred, using both quantitative techniques, such as surveys, and mixed-method qualitative methodologies (e.g. interviews, focus groups, body mapping and/or photovoice).