ReviewWomen's health (London, England)
The experiences of women seeking help for vaginismus and its impact on their sense of self: An integrative review.
Review in Women's health (London, England). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health Professionals' Approaches to Support Patient Diversity in the Assessment of Vaginismus: A Critical Feminist Qualitative Study for Inclusive Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Obstetric, perineal, and psychosocial outcomes after successful vaginismus treatment: a retrospective cohort study stratified by Lamont grade.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Early Maladaptive Schemas and Penetration Cognitions in Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder: A Multicenter Study.Turk psikiyatri dergisi = Turkish journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Managing Vaginismus with Assisted Dilatation Multidisciplinary Protocol - Retrospective Cohort Study from Indonesia's Largest Dedicated Centre.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- The overlooked burden: Vaginismus and its greater prevalence in eastern women.Dialogues in health · 2025Article
- Association between non-penetrative sexual activities and depression in women with vaginismus: a cross-sectional study.The Journal of international medical research · 2024Article
- Patients' recommendations to improve help-seeking for vaginismus: a qualitative study.BMC women's health · 2024Article
- The interrelationship between women's help-seeking experiences for vaginismus and their sense of self: a qualitative study and abductive analysis.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is low social awareness of vaginismus despite it being a relatively common female sexual dysfunction that makes vaginal penetration painful, difficult, and/or impossible. While existing literature on vaginismus has had a clinical focus on the affected genitalia, there is a lack of research on women's help-seeking experiences of vaginismus from their perspective.
objectivesThis integrative review's objective was to explore: women's help-seeking experiences of vaginismus, and how such help-seeking experiences impact their sense of self.
designCooper's five-step integrative review approach was followed to develop a research question, a search strategy, selection criteria, and data evaluation, analysis, and presentation. DATA SOURCES AND
methodsA systematic search of the literature was completed in the following seven databases in January 2023: PsycINFO, ProQuest Central, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane, and Embase. Out of the 373 articles found through database searches and additional citation searching, 22 studies were included in this review for meeting the eligibility criteria of having an empirical design, being written in English, and examining women's help-seeking experiences for vaginismus and its impact on their sense of self.
resultsThematic analysis was used to summarize the findings from the included studies which were informed by 1671 participants.
conclusionThis review indicates that women continue to face difficulties in seeking and receiving help for vaginismus even through the healthcare system. However, the studies did not explicitly discuss how women's help-seeking for vaginismus impacted their sense of self. This highlights an epistemological gap on how women's help-seeking for their vaginismus impacts their sense of self, which can affect their treatment responses. Recommendations are provided for future healthcare and research to improve health outcomes for women with vaginismus.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.