This week, gynecologists at the Tartu University Clinic, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs, launched the largest study to date into the sexual and reproductive health of Estonian women. Over 12,000 women aged 16-59 will receive a survey invitation via email.
In the study, women are anonymously asked about topics that are often hidden in society, but which have a significant impact on women’s health and quality of life.
“We study women aged 16 to 59. Understandably the topics are different in different age groups. Basically we want to know what women themselves want to tell us about their health; what are the factors that can influence their health, what are their needs. Let’s talk a little about births, contraceptives, infertility, infertility treatment, services, both gynecological and otherwise. We want to know how women feel during menstruation and whether this also interferes with their daily life We want to know for the first time how “women in transition feel like they have received enough help. This time we also ask ourselves about Covid. We want to cover a lot of women’s sexual and reproductive health,” said Made Laanpere, a gynecologist and associate professor of the clinic’s women’s clinic.
Pere Sihtkapital requested, on behalf of the University of Tartu, the data of thousands of childless Estonian women from the civil registry and sent them a survey with personal and sensitive questions. Due to this scandal, the organizers of the survey now especially emphasize that their research is completely anonymous, scientifically based and legitimate.
“We are all very concerned about what happened this summer and we have prepared very carefully to ensure trust. This is a completely anonymous survey, we asked a sample of the population register to contact randomly selected women via their email address. If they send us the answers, we cannot put together the questionnaire and a specific person. All these steps are also coordinated by the university’s human research ethics committee, similarly the database in which we store our anonymous questionnaires is protected in the university’s research cloud under higher risk requirements,” Laanpere said.
This major review survey is conducted every ten years. In this way the results help to understand how society developed and which decisions were justified. The new research findings are expected to help shape better healthcare and policies.
“For example, based on previous studies, we were able to say that there are advantages in youth counseling, those who attend them make better use of contraceptives. Or, for example, when we saw in a 2014 study that quite many women underwent violence and this has a significant impact on their health, this was a good body of knowledge when sexual help centers were created in Estonia or, for example, we saw that the younger the generation, the greater the satisfaction with the first visit the gynecologist,” said Kai Part, a gynecologist and associate professor of the clinic’s women’s clinic.
The results of the study will be published later this year.
2024-01-27 16:40:00
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