Approximately 176 million individuals are diagnosed with Endometriosis (Endo)(Hummelshoj, 2017). Endo prevalence has been found to be higher in women with infertility issues, where incidence rates jump to up to 50%  (Laganà et al., 2017). Endometriosis can cause severe, and in some cases, debilitating pain that has the potential to impact multiple facets of patient’s lives (Roomaney and Kagee, 2016).

Despite prevalence rates of endometriosis being so high, there is very little research into the effect of the disease on patient’s lives. In 2016, the National Health and Medical Research council allocated $837,433 to endometriosis research, with diabetes being allocated $64.1 million (NHMRC, 2017), despite endometriosis having very similar prevalence rates to diabetes.

By identifying risk factors that show where endometriosis care can be improved has the potential pave the way for more funds to be allocated to research more into endometriosis care. Funding research into endometriosis by way of larger studies to identify ways to improve patient’s health related quality of life has the potential to improve the lives of patients with endometriosis.

Patients that have been diagnosed with chronic illnesses often describe and experience their illness as a stressor on their life. This forces them to adapt and develop coping mechanisms that may not be healthy. By studying these mechanisms it may give health care providers a more in depth view of how a patient’s life is affected by this multifaceted disease (Roomaney and Kagee, 2016).

What does the research entail? I’m asking as many people with Endometriosis as possible from all over the world to get involved and take an anonymous and short survey that will mean I can get a Health Related Quality of Life score that I can then apply to demographics. And if you wanted to help out more you can apply to get involved in the interviews that will be with myself that will add some qualitative weight to the statistics. After that we will be asking people if they would like to get involved in the qualitative section of the study where they can get involved in an interview with myself.