Body image and illness experience of polycystic ovarian syndrome patients in the reproductive age:a qualitative research
GAO Qian
LU Yi
SUN Xiaoli
QIAN Xuan
ZHANG Feng
Abstract：Objective: To explore the illness experience of body image in women of reproductive age with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), providing a basis for targeted and individualized nursing interventions. Methods: A phenomenological research design was adopted. Purposive sampling was used to select women of reproductive age with PCOS, and semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted face-to-face. Colaizzi's seven-step analysis method was applied for inductive analysis and theme extraction. Results: The illness experience of body image in women of reproductive age with PCOS could be summarized into four themes and ten sub-themes. Theme 1: Accumulative adverse effects of visible symptoms; Theme 2: Worsening of low self-esteem due to physical and mental functional impairments (physiological function impact, psychological function impact); Theme 3: Emotional journey after illness (fear of the unknown, emotional anxiety, pressure of continuing the family line, optimistic expectations, acceptance and faith); Theme 4: Diversified support promoting improvement (spousal support, professional support from medical staff, support from the social security system). Conclusion: Medical staff should pay attention to the negative psychological experiences of body image in women of reproductive age with PCOS, take effective coping strategies to alleviate their psychological stress, and maintain their physical and mental health.
Keywords：polycystic ovarian syndromePCOSreproductive agebody imagequalitative researchnursing
Publication Date：2025-04-10
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 1326-1331 )