Sexual & reproductive healthcare : official journal of the Swedish Association of Midwives
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The study sought to examine women's experience of painful endometriosis including long-term aspects, social consequences, impact of treatment and development of own coping strategies. ⋯ Living with severe painful endometriosis signified a struggle for coherence. The women needed to deal with feelings of difference, dependence and a ruined life and thus struggled for understanding, coping and meaning. Health-care providers should promote the struggle for coherence by explaining the feeling of difference, minimizing dependence and supporting the process of disease-related grief.