Understanding the Health and Well-being of Women With Multiple Sclerosis

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disease that affects the central nervous system, and is potentially disabling. Women experience MS more frequently than men at a 3:1 ratio. Current literature suggests that women may experience health, social determinants of health, and disability differentially, and there is a gap in the research examining how gender intersects with MS. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with 23 women with MS. van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology was used to inform and analyze the data to understand the nature and meaning of health and well-being for participants. RESULTS: A key theme of "enhancing wholeness for women with MS" emerged from the data, which suggests that women with MS view themselves as healthy and "whole" despite living with MS. Supporting factors for physical, mental, and social well-being include the ability to enact human agency within social structures such as with employment or seeking care with MS clinics. The findings informed the development of a figure that depicts the supporting factors of health and well-being for women living with MS. CONCLUSION: The health and well-being of women with MS may be optimally supported by nurses and interdisciplinary healthcare teams through careful consideration as to how agency is enacted within social structures, for example, MS clinics, employment, and social support systems, as well as considerations for social determinants of health.