Source: Australian Capital Territory Policing
For decades, women have often been excluded from medical research, leading to gaps in knowledge and limited attention to how many health issues can disproportionately and differently affect them compared to men. A Department of Health led research funding initiative is helping to address this by supporting innovative research into women’s health.
The Women’s Health Research Catalyst Grants program is being delivered as part of the Victorian Government’s $153.9 million Women’s Health and Wellbeing package, aiming to change the way women’s health issues are treated in Victoria.
Fifteen projects have received funding through the Women’s Health Research Catalyst Grants program, with grants of up to $150,000. The research funding aims to advance understanding of how disease and health conditions affect women, and to strengthen evidence in areas previously overlooked.
The successful grant recipients are conducting research across a range of priority areas, including sexual and reproductive health, cardiovascular health, oncology, neurodegenerative conditions and chronic pain. The projects will contribute to a growing body of knowledge focused on women’s health.
Among the grant recipients is Professor Priscilla Dunk-West of Victoria University, who received funding to investigate how LGBTQ+ Victorians experience, interpret and navigate menopause as a bodily experience. The research aims to highlight the diversity of experiences within this community and develop a practice guide for health professionals to support LGBTQ+ people during menopause.
Professor Dunk-West, is a sociologist with a background in sexual health. She says there is limited research in Australia about how LGBTQ+ people navigate menopause and notes that her own experiences helped shape her interest in the topic.
“I come to my research with a lived experience lens which includes some very challenging years of perimenopause.
“There is a lot of emphasis on medical aspects to menopause such as managing symptoms but there is so much more to menopause than symptoms. I wondered how people navigate menopause in their queer relationships, how menopause was experienced in LGBTQ+ communities and how, as a broader community, we understand menopause for queer people. Our research team is thrilled to be able to undertake this important work,” Professor Dunk-West says.
Professor Dunk-West says she has high hopes for the research outcomes, with her research designed to draw directly on lived experience.
“We are asking participants to tell us what they think health professionals need to know, and thus drawing from the collective wisdom of LGBTQ+ people to inform the care and service needs in Victoria and beyond,” Professor Dunk-West says.
The study is currently seeking participants in Victoria who are LGBTQ+ and have experienced, or are experiencing, any stage of menopause, including perimenopause or postmenopause.
Find out more about the study and access the .
Find out more about how the Department of Health is bridging the gap in women’s healthcare through the Women’s Health and Wellbeing Program.