The psychological and social contexts of complaints of abnormal vaginal discharge: A study of illness narratives in India

Commentary on “The psychological and social contexts of the complaint of abnormal vaginal discharge: A study of illness narratives in India”

“…The danger of findings from the study of Patel et al [1] is that women who present with AVD will be interpreted in biomedical terms and dichotomized as being either 'physical' or 'psychological' in origin. The persistence of the mind/ body split in the developed world has restricted the conceptualization of such conditions [18] and severely hampered the design of suitable psychosocial interventions [19].…”

“…With regard to help-seeking behavior, Patel et al [1] note that, although women sought help, both biomedical and traditional, this was often not successful and subsequently discontinued. This was due to lack of symptom control, sideeffects, and the cost of treatment.…”

“…Hence, there is a need to broaden the remit of both research and healthcare in order to meet the changing health needs of women. Patel et al [1] go someway towards this goal by integrating psychosocial and cultural factors in their assessment of women who present with AVD. They conclude that there is a need to promote a more holistic, yet evidence-based, approach to women's reproductive complaints in South Asia.…”

“…In their paper "The Psychological and Social Contexts of the Complaint of Abnormal Vaginal Discharge: A Study of Illness Narratives in India," Patel et al [1] used in-depth interviews to explore the psychosocial aspects of women who complain of abnormal vaginal discharge (AVD) in Goa, India. The design is a qualitative study embedded within a larger cohort study [2,3], thus allowing for a comparison between the quantitative and qualitative findings to be made.…”

The Stree Arogya Shodh: investigating gynaecological morbidities and women's mental health in India

“…These publications report the baseline prevalence of AVD and CMDs and their association with each other (Patel et al, 2006a), as well as the risk factors for new episodes of AVD and CMDs observed during the follow-up phase (Patel et al, 2006b,c). Nested in the cohort was a qualitative study investigating the illness narratives of women with AVD (Patel et al, 2008).…”