Overview
The sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of people with psychiatric illness is an important and often neglected aspect of their physical healthcare and wellbeing. This population is vulnerable and faces barriers to accessing such care for a variety of reasons. Women’s health needs in particular have been neglected and new strategies for Women’s health (England and Scotland) aim to address these disparities. This session aims to raise awareness of the additional SRH burden carried by people experiencing common and serious mental illness, with a particular focus on the impact on women and people with female reproductive systems. It will consider clinical solutions, including the barriers to providing adequate SRH care in this population.
The session will include the following topics:
- the experience and impact of menopause for women with pre-existing severe mental illness
- the sexual and reproductive health of women with mental illness: a primary care registry study of 2,680,149 women
- delivering sexual and reproductive healthcare within a psychiatric inpatient setting: A service evaluation.
Objectives
• To understand the experience and impact of menopause for women with severe mental illness.
• To understand the wide and unmet SRH needs of women with mental illness from an epidemiological perspective.
• To understand what good SRH care should include and options for its delivery in an inpatient psychiatry setting, including barriers faced and staff and patient perspectives.
Speakers
Chair: Professor Stephen Lawrie, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Professor Elizabeth Hughes, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow
Dr Holly Hope, University of Manchester, Manchester
Dr Nicole Needham, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Alison Milne, NHS Lothian
