Black Women's Response to the Dismissal and Normalization of their Chronic Pelvic Pain

Sydney Love Cush; Alithia Zamantakis; Magdy Milad; Linda Yang; Taylor Keys; Oluwateniola Brown; Melissa Simon

doi:10.1007/s40615-025-02765-3

Black Women's Response to the Dismissal and Normalization of their Chronic Pelvic Pain

J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2025 Dec 8. doi: 10.1007/s40615-025-02765-3. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sydney Love Cush¹, Alithia Zamantakis², Magdy Milad², Linda Yang², Taylor Keys², Oluwateniola Brown², Melissa Simon²

Affiliations

¹ Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA. sydney.cush@northwestern.edu.
² Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA.

PMID: 41359263
DOI: 10.1007/s40615-025-02765-3

Abstract

Background: Female Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) is a common, complex, and multifactorial disease that is associated with a number of non-gynecologic and gynecologic conditions. The physical symptoms associated with CPP can contribute to emotional distress, ultimately affecting a woman's quality of life. It is imperative now more than ever to further investigate how stereotypes and racial and gender disparities operate in CPP diagnosis and management for Black women, which was the ultimate goal of this study.

Methods: A qualitative design was implemented that focused on one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 4 categories: General Understanding, Diagnosis Experience, Social and Economic Barriers, and Treatment Stage. The study had a total of 30 participants that self-identified as Black and were between the ages of 18-65. Thematic analysis and consolidation revealed 3 prevalent themes.

Results/discussion: First, Black women have an understanding of and subjective familiarity with their CPP diagnoses revealing knowledge may not be a limiting factor to receiving care. Secondly, the interviews revealed themes of "dismissal" and "normalization" of pain that appeared a total of 70 times across several social and medical contexts. Finally, a novel theme of "self-advocacy" emerged. Black patients feel a necessity to fight for recognition and adequate medical care. This, along with the known emotional distress linked to chronic pain contributes to increased mental load for these women.

Conclusion: Overall, this study is a call to action for increased empathy in the provider-patient relationship, eliminating stereotypes in healthcare treatment, and emphasizing mental and emotional states in pain management.