Endometriosis is a debilitating chronic disease that can affect many aspects of everyday life owing to symptoms such as pain and fatigue. This paper reports the findings of a study exploring the impact of symptomatic endometriosis on women's social and working life. The study used a feminist approach. Eighteen women were interviewed and a thematic approach used to analyse the data. The analysis is structured around three themes focusing on issues around disclosure of symptoms in the work place; the impact of symptoms on work, education and social participation; and the strategies used by women in the study to manage endometriosis. A range of health and employment implications are discussed in this paper. In particular, nurses can provide useful support to women by careful assessment and prompt referral for diagnostic procedures and by providing timely and comprehensive information, including information about the lifestyle and nutritional factors recommended by women with endometriosis.

Nurses' practices in this study were a critical element in facilitating, or alternately constraining, family caregivers' ability to relinquish care and to take full advantage of the respite time. The research findings highlight the need for nurses and other formal caregivers to locate themselves in a secondary and supporting caregiving role, to acknowledge the family caregivers as the primary caregiver, and use family caregivers in-depth and intimate knowledge of the needs of their relative to inform care within the institutional setting.

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Research demonstrates that a well-qualified, stable nursing workforce improves quality of health care and health outcomes. Changing the work environment and fostering a positive workplace culture seems fundamental to supporting the retention of nurses, that this is not occurring in some areas in the current climate is a concern for the profession and those responsible for the provision of care.