The impact of peer-led support groups on health-related quality of life, coping skills and depressive symptomatology for women with PCOS

ABSTRACT

Support groups can be a powerful medium in providing psychological support to women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). The study evaluated the impact of peer support group on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), depressive symptomatology and coping strategies among women with PCOS. The pre- and post-test experimental design was used. Women with PCOS not receiving psychiatric medication and attending clinics of a teaching hospital in Colombo were recruited. They were randomly allocated based on clinic days to the experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 22) groups. The Intervention group participated in the specific peer support program for 10 weeks, while the control group received general health reading material for 10 weeks through the post. The Modified Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Questionnaire (M-PCOSQ), Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Brief COPE inventory were administered to both groups before and 1 month after completing the intervention. Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the scores of HRQoL, depressive symptomatology and coping skills. One month after the intervention, the support group exhibited improvement in HRQoL, depressive symptomatology and coping skills (p < 0.01) compared to the control group. The peer support group is an effective intervention to uplift the psycho-social wellbeing of women with PCOS through receiving emotional support from those similarly afflicted.

KEYWORDS:

• Peer-led support group
• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
• depression
• health-related quality of life
• coping strategies
• sri lanka

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Professor Louise Dye for granting permission on behalf of her research team for us to use M-PCOSQ. We also wish to thank the Director, medical officers, and the nursing sisters of De Soysa Hospital for Women, Sri Lanka for their cooperation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, BAR, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

Self-funded