Description of impact
The impact of this work centres on raising the profile of menstrual and menopausal problems amongst women and other key stakeholders who can change information provision, diagnosis and treatment, the culture about menstruation in the workplace, and otherwise improve the quality of life of affected women.1) Women: The impact of this work includes increased awareness of menstrual and menopausal symptoms, leading to greater willingness, confidence, and preparedness to seek help. Monitoring of menstrual and menopausal wellbeing draws women’s attention to changes in their reproductive health, and provides them with information and metrics that allow them to communicate knowledgeably and confidently with health care professionals, which will lead to more timely diagnosis and treatment. The subsequent relief of symptoms associated will in turn have economic benefits for women such as reduction in the financial burden of excessive sanitary protection, pain relief, and laundry. Moreover, given the employment consequences of menstrual disruption and the menopause (e.g., absenteeism, presenteeism) and the impact on progression and income, more effective use of healthcare to relieve symptoms can have ongoing career benefits to women. Finally, as emphasised by NICE, quality of life is a critically important consideration in menstrual disruption, and relief of symptoms will have a beneficial impact on women’s leisure time and family life as well as their physical wellbeing.
2) Employers: Deborah’s contribution to the Welsh Government’s Period Dignity Action Plan stimulated the USW Period Dignity project. This project has raised the profile of menstruation in the workplace at USW and will provide information about the menstrual culture and attitudes at USW. The knowledge will be shared with Senior Leadership Teams, Human Resources, Wellbeing teams and other key wellbeing stakeholders at USW to help develop any initiatives and changes that will help ensure women’s experience of menstruation at work is as comfortable as possible. Any changes that improve women’s engagement and wellbeing at work will have a positive impact on women’s careers, and USW productivity and outcomes. USW has many external partnerships (e.g., policing, sport, and industry) and the USW Period Dignity work will highlight USW as a leader in promoting women’s reproductive wellbeing in the workplace. Outcomes and approaches arising from this work can be shared with partners, leading to improvements in reproductive health awareness and culture in numerous partnership settings.
3) Health services: Although the responsibility for diagnosis and treatment of reproductive health conditions sits with health services, it is important that women are sufficiently informed and confident to seek help for problematic reproductive health symptoms as soon as possible. Moreover, as evidence suggests women are stoic and tend to downplay and excuse their reproductive health symptoms, even in consultations, helping them to communicate clearly and confidently the extent of the impact of their symptoms on their lives is important. Clear communication will be aided by tracking symptoms with reliable measures. The items on the PERIOD-QOL and on Health and Her’s symptom monitoring tool provide women with examples and scores that they can share with their doctors and that provide metrics that help doctors to quantify the severity of the impact of these symptoms on their lives. Symptoms such as pain and heavy bleeding are key symptoms of conditions such as uterine fibroids, endometriosis, adenomyosis, and thyroid problems which can be treated. Early recognition and treatment of the problems can prevent deterioration of conditions and more costly interventions.
How did your research contribute?
Deborah’s work about the impact of heavy menstrual bleeding has been cited in the Welsh Government’s Period Proud Action Plan Period Proud Wales Action Plan | GOV.WALES Deborah was contacted by the Gender Policy Manager in the Equality team at Welsh Government in 2021, after a recommendation from the Policy Officer at Wales TUC. Deborah met the Welsh Government Gender Policy Manager and the Senior Policy Advisor, and shared some of her research in a report “Work-related disruption associated with heavy menstruation and gynaecological diagnoses” she had prepared to share with Wales TUC. This work outlined the prevalence of presenteeism and absenteeism reported by women experiencing heavy menstruation. Jane Hutt (Minister for Social Justice), wrote a foreword in the Welsh Government Period Proud Wales Action Plan, which outlined the Welsh Government’s vision about achieving period dignity in Wales. They aim to raise awareness of the need for practical support for period dignity and sharing of good practice, including issues related to the menopause, perimenopause and other health issues involving vaginal bleeding. This includes ending shame and stigma, normalising periods, and acknowledging the distress and pain caused by abnormal periods. The Welsh Government is working with trade unions, public services, and private/third sectors to “…create guidance and promote policies on period dignity and the menopause and to ensure educational and practical period dignity resources are available”.Deborah’s expertise in the psychosocial aspects of women’s reproductive health spans 23 years. Her work has proliferated since 2014 when Deborah contributed to European media events about uterine fibroids for Gedeon Richter, followed by an I2S grant in 2016 which developed links with Health and Her. This application relates to two ongoing streams of work, 1) the PERIOD-QOL measure and 2) menopausal symptom monitoring.
The PERIOD-QOL is a 10-item menstrual Quality of Life measure (Lancastle et al., 2023), which measures and raises women’s awareness of how menstrual disruption impacts on their quality of life. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence advises that women’s quality of life should be doctors’ primary focus when treating heavy periods, but reliably assessing menstrual quality of life has been challenging. The PERIOD-QOL will considerably improve the reach and accessibility of reliable assessment of menstrual quality of life.
Who is affected?
The impact of this work centres on raising the profile of menstrual and menopausal problems amongst women and other key stakeholders who can change information provision, diagnosis and treatment, the culture about menstruation in the workplace, and otherwise improve the quality of life of affected women.1) Women: The impact of this work includes increased awareness of menstrual and menopausal symptoms, leading to greater willingness, confidence, and preparedness to seek help. Monitoring of menstrual and menopausal wellbeing draws women’s attention to changes in their reproductive health, and provides them with information and metrics that allow them to communicate knowledgeably and confidently with health care professionals, which will lead to more timely diagnosis and treatment. The subsequent relief of symptoms associated will in turn have economic benefits for women such as reduction in the financial burden of excessive sanitary protection, pain relief, and laundry. Moreover, given the employment consequences of menstrual disruption and the menopause (e.g., absenteeism, presenteeism) and the impact on progression and income, more effective use of healthcare to relieve symptoms can have ongoing career benefits to women. Finally, as emphasised by NICE, quality of life is a critically important consideration in menstrual disruption, and relief of symptoms will have a beneficial impact on women’s leisure time and family life as well as their physical wellbeing.
2) Employers: Deborah’s contribution to the Welsh Government’s Period Dignity Action Plan stimulated the USW Period Dignity project. This project has raised the profile of menstruation in the workplace at USW and will provide information about the menstrual culture and attitudes at USW. The knowledge will be shared with Senior Leadership Teams, Human Resources, Wellbeing teams and other key wellbeing stakeholders at USW to help develop any initiatives and changes that will help ensure women’s experience of menstruation at work is as comfortable as possible. Any changes that improve women’s engagement and wellbeing at work will have a positive impact on women’s careers, and USW productivity and outcomes. USW has many external partnerships (e.g., policing, sport, and industry) and the USW Period Dignity work will highlight USW as a leader in promoting women’s reproductive wellbeing in the workplace. Outcomes and approaches arising from this work can be shared with partners, leading to improvements in reproductive health awareness and culture in numerous partnership settings.
3) Health services: Although the responsibility for diagnosis and treatment of reproductive health conditions sits with health services, it is important that women are sufficiently informed and confident to seek help for problematic reproductive health symptoms as soon as possible. Moreover, as evidence suggests women are stoic and tend to downplay and excuse their reproductive health symptoms, even in consultations, helping them to communicate clearly and confidently the extent of the impact of their symptoms on their lives is important. Clear communication will be aided by tracking symptoms with reliable measures. The items on the PERIOD-QOL and on Health and Her’s symptom monitoring tool provide women with examples and scores that they can share with their doctors and that provide metrics that help doctors to quantify the severity of the impact of these symptoms on their lives. Symptoms such as pain and heavy bleeding are key symptoms of conditions such as uterine fibroids, endometriosis, adenomyosis, and thyroid problems which can be treated. Early recognition and treatment of the problems can prevent deterioration of conditions and more costly interventions.
| Category of impact | Quality of life impacts |
|---|---|
| Impact level | In progress |