Grant: Catalyst Grant: Partnering for Impact - Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research

Period pain, which is clinically known as dysmenorrhea, is one of the most common gynecological conditions experienced by females of reproductive age. Period pain is more severe among adolescents and impacts their ability to participate in school and extracurricular activities. In most cases, period pain can be managed with medicines and self-care activities. However, in some cases, it can be a sign of other underlying gynecological issues, such as endometriosis (a painful condition where uterus-like tissue grows outside of it). Despite its prevalence, there is a lack of evidence-based and youth-friendly information on period pain and management strategies. This gap in youth-oriented resources makes it challenging for them to identify appropriate strategies and access timely care. To address this, we will collaborate with youth and healthcare providers to "co-produce" an educational tool on period pain and a plan to disseminate the education tool. We will use a validated survey to evaluate youth and healthcare provider engagement in this process. We will share our learnings from this evaluation as a research article, which will be co-authored with youth. Our team includes youth with lived experience of period pain, healthcare providers from different fields relevant to period pain management, and researchers from two disciplines (Gynecology and Psychology). This project builds on our previously successfully campaign, Period Pain is Real Pain. In our pilot phase, we co-designed a basic website with resources on period pain, and a social media campaign with youth. The social media campaign reached over 800,000 people, and the website had more than 6,200 visits during the campaign period. The current project will allow us to build on this momentum and engage with additional youth, healthcare providers, and community organizers to build trusted partnerships that support the co-creation of meaningful, practical resources for managing period pain.