Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Globally, 45% to 95% of females of reproductive age experience period pain, clinically known as dysmenorrhea. Period pain is more severe among adolescents and impacts their ability to participate in school and extracurricular activities. Despite its prevalence, many youth lack the knowledge required to manage period pain. This makes it difficult for them to access care and select appropriate self-care strategies. Understanding youth's experiences with period pain care in Canada can help us design strategies to share information about period pain more effectively. In my project, I aim to 1) summarize current evidence on this topic through a systematic review 2) conduct qualitative interviews with 25 youth (15 to 24 years) and 15 healthcare providers to better understand their experiences of period pain care and 3) use the findings of Aim 1 and Aim 2 to create a web-based tool to improve youth's access to period pain care. Healthcare access is defined as the ability to obtain appropriate care, and it depends on many factors such as social circumstances, health beliefs, attitudes, affordability, and availability of services. I will use a health promotion planning model called 'PRECEDE-PROCEED' to understand how these factors intersect with each other to determine youth's access experiences. My overall research is guided by the 'Participatory Action Research' framework, which is a research approach that emphasizes the involvement of end users throughout the research process. As such, my research involves youth in all steps of the research, including the co-development of the web-based tool. Ultimately, my research and the web-based tool that I will create will empower youth to obtain appropriate care for period pain, ensuring that they do not suffer in silence.