Mental Health of Unmarried Women with PCOS and Their Menstrual Health Seeking Behavior

Abstract

Polycystic ovarian syndrome is one of the most prevalent disorders among women of childbearing age but not much is known about the menstrual health seeking behavior of unmarried PCOS patients, particularly in developing countries. Being a chronic disease with a variety of symptoms, it has serious impacts on the mental health of women too. The study uses a phenomenological design to explore the mental health of unmarried PCOS patients and their menstrual health seeking behavior. It consists of 8 participants, who were selected through purposive sampling. Semi structured interview guide was formulated on the basis of literature. The sample was collected from clinics in Rawalpindi but interviews were not conducted there. They were conducted through zoom application because of the COVID-19 situation. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data and 8 superordinate themes emerged i.e., disease related knowledge, adapting to the disease, health seeking behaviors, challenges during treatment, problems in social domain, problems in personal domain, psychological impacts of the disease and support system. Thus, it was found that unmarried women suffering from PCOS experience various mental health problems and actively adopt suitable menstrual health seeking behaviors. These results can play an important role in introducing reforms in the health sector and conducting awareness programs so that the issues emerged in the study can be dealt with.