Listening to women’s experience with vasomotor symptoms

Menopause is a natural event which occurs to every woman, affecting the hormonal balance in the body. In many cases, it comes with burdensome symptoms such as hot flushes, decreasing cognitive abilities etc., which may negatively impact a woman’s life. While the existence of these symptoms is widely known and analyzed, their impact on women’s daily lives and behaviors, as well as the emotional turmoil they trigger, are still under the radar in the public discourse. Given the context of taboo which surrounds menopause, women can feel particularly lonely, left with unpredictable, tedious symptoms and no real support or resource to understand what they go through. Our client, a leading global pharmaceutical player, asked us to shed light on the emotional patterns driven by menopause, with the final goal of knowing how they could more specifically support women with vasomotor symptoms (VMS).

Collecting genuine answers

Our team has built a patient study based on our Patient Journey Mapping methodology, by giving women a voice and helping them share as freely as possible the reality of their menopause journey. For this study, Observia investigated and described moments of truth, i.e., moments when menopause symptoms have the strongest impact on women’s lives. Women were recruited in 4 countries and screened to meet pre-defined criteria, which included the severity of their menopausal symptoms, notably VMS. To ensure a deep understanding of women’s experiences, Observia implemented its unique in-house interview techniques, based on our internal expertise in behavioral and social sciences. These allow for a level of granularity that results in valuable, realistic, and genuine insights. 

Three techniques were used:

• Women and healthcare professionals interviews
• Photo-elicitation methodology
• SPUR™ behavioral questionnaire