Pelvic Pain, Period Pain and Endometriosis community education

Pelvic Pain affects 1 in 5 women and 1 in 12 men at some time in their life – yet it is a condition that is rarely discussed. As most types of pelvic pain cannot be diagnosed with blood tests or scans, it’s easy for women and men with this problem to suffer pain for years before finding the help they need.

Pelvic Pain results in 1 in 5 women missing at least one day of school per a month while two in five women said pain affected their concentration or performance in class. Many of these young women run the risk of falling behind during their final years of schooling.

The Latrobe Health Assembly with the support of the Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia hosted a series of school talks with students titled PPEP Talks. The talks were held at Latrobe Valley high schools throughout February in a pilot project for Victoria.

During the two-week period, a total of 19 sessions were held at 10 schools with the addition of two community sessions. Approximately 965 students and 45 teachers or school workers attended the sessions.

Key evaluation points following the PPEP Talks include:
Pre-session

• 60% of students thought it was normal for girls to be worried about period pain
• 45% of students thought it was normal to miss school or activities due to period pain
• 81% students had little to no information about endometriosis
• 69% students said that they had no information about where to access help

Post-session

• 96% students thought people should seek help if they were worried about their period
• 82% thought it was not normal to miss schools and activities due to period pain
• 90% students said they had medium to high level of information about endometriosis
• 89% students said that had a medium to high level of information about where to access help

The trial of the PPEP Talks was successful, which was represented in the evaluation results. The difference in the pre and post sessions scores is an indication that students had learned valuable information during the session which would help with their individual health in the future as well as the health of family members that they may be caring for. The improved understanding in the medical information that was provided has improved health literacy levels of the students the attended as they now have a better understanding of the information but also now know where to find reliable sources of health information in the future.