How Women Suffering from Endometriosis Disclose about their Disorder at Work

Abstract

Endometriosis is a stigmatized health disorder that impacts approximately 10% of the female population around the world and is characterized by severe physical and psychological symptoms. Through the interpretive perspective, this study investigated how women with endometriosis disclose about their disorder in the workplace. Potential participants were recruited using Reddit and Facebook. Participants (N = 119) completed an anonymous, online, open-ended questionnaire. Open-ended responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes emerged related to how endometriosis patients disclose about their disorder at work: 1) frequency of communication 2) level of openness 3) type of content shared 4) preferred setting for conversations and 5) preferred conversational partner. Furthermore, the findings revealed that disclosure about endometriosis is significantly impacted by workplace environment. These findings are contextualized by the theoretical framework provided by the disclosure process model. Overall, this study offers a starting point for deeper empirical investigation of mechanisms influencing disclosure and informs future research directed toward developing interventions that may enable organizations to better accommodate affected employees.