Guest Post: Research Opportunity From Stellenbosch University

We are excited to share a guest post from researcher Cheryl Eder, Ph.D. candidate at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

My name is Cheryl Eder, and I am currently a Ph.D. psychology student at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. I am currently doing a study on the experiences of transgender men living with endometriosis. I started researching endometriosis as part of my endometriosis diagnosis and my wanting to know more about how to live with this disease.

As I reached out and started to join support groups and networks, I became aware of how others’ stories of endometriosis were similar to mine in that there were major diagnostic delays and reports of pain and other symptoms often being normalized and not taken seriously.

I became aware from social media posts that transgender people and men have endometriosis. However, in most of the information I had read, they referred to endometriosis being a women’s disease. This struck me as I read these posts, as I felt that these voices seemed to have been excluded and may need to be heard.

Who is eligible to participate?

If you identify as a transgender male and/or as non-binary, have been diagnosed with endometriosis, are 18 or older, and are interested in being a participant, please make contact with Cheryl Eder via email: cje@live.co.za. Participants will need to attend 3 online interviews and complete a diary as part of this study. Pseudonyms will be used to protect participants’ anonymity. Participants will receive a small gratuity of a $10 Amazon gift card.

Why is this research important?

There is a need for marginalized groups, such as transgender men who have endometriosis, to be able to share their experiences and the need for further research in this area. In this study, I aim to share voices that are missing in research. Although there are a few studies on transgender men with endometriosis, there are currently no studies that explore what it is like for transgender men to live with this disease. In this study, I aim to:

• Explore transgender men’s experience of living with endometriosis
• Their experience with healthcare for this disease
• Their experience of psychosocial support
• Their experiences of their integration into the endometriosis community

Additional study information

The study has been ethics board-approved and is based in South Africa. If you are interested in participating, please contact Cheryl Eder at cje@live.co.za.

This study is not sponsored by or affiliated with Endometrisis.net.