RCOG World Congress 2025

Women’s experiences of Hysteroscopy: A qualitative study

•Hysteroscopy remains marked by inconsistent outcomes and unaddressed patient suffering (Harrison et al, 2021)

•Unidimensional pain and satisfaction scores are limited in capturing women’s experiences

•RCOG is calling for a prioritisation of qualitative research examining patients' experiences along the hysteroscopy pathway (De Silva et al. 2024)

•Explore women’s lived experiences of hysteroscopy

•Design: A qualitative investigation of hysteroscopy experiences

•Participants: Forum-users who posted about their personal hysteroscopy experience on Mumsnet between 2018 and 2024

•Method: Posts were analysed using the six stages of Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021)

•Data Extraction: A total of 277 threads consisting of 4769 posts were extracted using R

CONCLUSION

1.Consent is shaped by limited choices and misinformation

2.Vulnerability is heightened by procedural exposure

3.Pain relief is inconsistently applied

4.Women's suffering is routinely dismissed

Gender bias reinforces unequal standards of care

Women's experiences of hysteroscopy: a qualitative study