Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)

This study encourages conversations around menstrual health and explores a variety of topics that girls and young women don’t often talk about, such as painful periods or pelvic pain between their periods (pain in the lower part of the tummy or abdomen). Many women experience pain, but they do not feel comfortable talking about it or they do not feel heard when trying to get help. Because of this, it can take years to find out why they are having pain and to get the right kind of help for treating it. This study aims to provide a voice to all young women, especially women of color and those in rural areas who have not had the opportunity to share their menstrual health story before. We want to learn about the different types of pain girls and young women have and the many ways it is addressed, such as taking medications and visiting doctors or other support.

You may be eligible to join the study if you:

• are 12 - 30 years old
• have had your first menstrual period
• have experienced period / pelvic pain
• live in Michigan
• If you are under 18 years old, you will need a parent or guardian’s permission to participate in the study.

• You will be asked to complete a survey online every 3 months for 18 months. There will be 7 surveys total.
• You will receive up to $100 in Amazon.com gift cards for completing the surveys.
• You will be asked if you also want to provide documents from your medical record, such as doctors’ notes or test results. This is totally your choice and you would be asked to sign a separate medical records release form before providing any documents.
• Joining the study does not change the care you receive from your current doctors or healthcare providers.

The surveys include a variety of questions about you and your health. For example, you will be asked questions about your medical history, family history, physical and mental health, lifestyle, nutrition, experiences with pain, periods, medications and hormone therapy.

• You may experience some discomfort when answering questions of a sensitive nature.
• Any time personal information is collected for research, there is a risk of a loss of confidentiality. Please know that your information (the data collected) will be used for research purposes only and the research team at MSU will have multiple processes in place to keep your information confidential. For example, your surveys will be coded using a number and your name will be removed from the data for analysis. These processes have proven to be successful to keep all of your information private for similar studies in the past.

Although you will not benefit directly, your participation in this study will provide valuable insight so that researchers and healthcare workers can better understand how pain impacts women’s lives and how things like family history or where a woman lives could change the type of care she receives. We hope the information you provide will help young girls and women with pelvic pain in the future.

It will not cost you any money to join the study, just your time because it will take 20-60 minutes to complete each survey. You will also need access to the internet and an email address in order to complete the surveys.

AbbVie, Inc. provided grant funds to Michigan State University (MSU) to cover the costs of this study.

Dr. Stacey Missmer is the Principal Investigator of the W.O.R.K. Study and is a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at MSU.

Visit go.msu.edu/workstudy and click JOIN NOW to see if you are eligible. It only takes 5 minutes!

You can contact the study team at: Email: LetsWork@msu.edu
Or
Phone: 616-234-2858