Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Apr 14, 2025
Date Accepted: Oct 31, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Online cognitive-behavioural programs for women living with endometriosis: Protocol for a scoping review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Endometriosis (endo) is a chronic inflammatory condition experienced by approximately 6-10% of women worldwide. It is characterized by endometrial-like tissue that grows outside of the uterus. Women living with endo experience multi-dimensional burdens often attributed to pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Treatment patterns frequently focus on acute symptom management, while endo is a lifelong condition. In addition, endo-associated symptoms are complex, requiring multimodal treatment strategies. New complementary approaches for symptom management are needed, where further exploration of current online programs is a necessary next step.
Objective:
The aim of this scoping review is to examine the range and nature of online programs created to manage endo-associated symptoms and to identify key behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within the online programs.
Methods:
We will conduct the proposed scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley framework (2005) with an interpretive scoping review consulted stakeholder methodology (six stages) and referencing the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence Synthesis Manual (2015). Original articles, including peer-review and protocol studies, will be identified from Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, EBSCOhost CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Premium, EBSCOhost SPORTDiscus, and ProQuest PsycINFO. Preprints will be identified via Web of Science Preprint Citation Index. We will also search for active clinical trials from multiple registries. Zotero will be used for citation management and Covidence software will be used for screening and extraction. Included articles will be coded to identify BCTs within the online intervention using the BCTs taxonomy v1. Results including tables and the narrative have been piloted prior to publication of this protocol using four articles that meet our criteria, suggesting a more in-depth search is needed.
Results:
Data collection is scheduled to start in [insert month following accepted manuscript] 2025, with results to be published by Winter 2026.
Conclusions:
Understanding the components of available online programs (e.g., BCT ontologies), for women living with endo is a necessary next step to developing effective and long-lasting endo-management options. Online programs can be non-invasive, convenient, provide a sense of comfort, and are often more cost-effective than traditional in-person medicine and may be used complementary to in-person programs or on their own. Clinical Trial: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Y4DN6
Citation
