(HealthDay)—For women with endometriosis, the health care experience is double-edged, with both a destructive and constructive side, according to a study published online May 11 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Hanna Grundström, R.N.M., from Vrinnevi Hospital in Norrköping, Sweden, and colleagues interviewed nine women (aged 23 to 55 years) with a laparoscopy-confirmed diagnosis of endometriosis to identify and describe their experience during health care encounters. The data were analyzed using the interpretive phenomenological approach.

The researchers identified two themes in the interview transcripts: being treated with ignorance and being acknowledged. From these themes, the double-edged experience of health care encounters emerged, with the experience involving contradictory feelings of being destructive or constructive. Being ignored and feeling exposed and not believed characterized the destructive side, while the constructive side made women feel acknowledged and confirmed, enhancing their self-esteem.

"The new and important aspects of the findings are that the experience of health care encounters is for the first time expressed as double-edged: both destructive and constructive," the authors write. "The experience was of specific importance as it affected the women's perceptions of themselves and of their bodies."

More information: Abstract
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Journal information: Journal of Clinical Nursing