Barriers and Facilitators to Formal Help-Seeking for Premenstrual Symptoms in the UK

592 UK-based participants responded to an online survey about premenstrual symptoms and their experiences with formal help-seeking. The study, authored by E. L. Funnell and last updated in April 2026, used a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis and thematic analysis of qualitative responses. It found that 42.74% of participants had not previously sought formal help, with concerns about being dismissed by healthcare professionals being the most common barrier.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relative impact of different barriers to formal help-seeking based on survey responses.
• Compare attitudes between help-seekers and non-help-seekers regarding professional care efficacy.
• Identify potential facilitators for improving formal care engagement based on qualitative themes like education and awareness.

Strengths

• Data from 592 participants allows for group comparisons between help-seekers and non-help-seekers.
• Employs a mixed-methods design, providing both quantitative statistics and qualitative thematic insights.
• Specific findings are reported, such as 42.74% of participants being non-help-seekers and the most common barrier identified.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 63.6 KB DOCX file, indicating a very small scale, likely containing a summary report rather than raw data.
• Row count and column-level documentation for any underlying survey data are unknown.
• The description provides results but the structure and variables of the original survey data are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

E. L. Funnell via figshare.

Collection Method

Data were collected from an online survey incorporating quantitative and qualitative questions.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-17 05:21:26.

Geography

United Kingdom.