Leading the change in mainstream menstrual healthcare

One month following our launch at the House of Lords, Menstrual Cycle Support are proud to announce that we have partnered with accredited NHS England Health Services Supplier, Meaningful Measures Ltd, to help pioneer menstrual health data research/analysis and keep leading the change in mainstream menstrual healthcare.

Through vital information collected from participants on our ground-breaking Menstrual Cycle Support course, the team at Meaningful Measures Ltd will analyse the real-world impact of menstrual health concerns (and how the Menstrual Cycle Support Course can help to alleviate them) through Meaningful Measures Ltd’s validated and NHS England accredited patient reported outcome measure, Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW®).

Founder of Menstrual Cycle Support, Kate Shepherd Cohen, says:

“We are extremely excited about publishing robust evidence on the benefit to health and wellbeing of menstrual literacy measured against real world menstrual health concerns so that our free online course continues to change and enhance mainstream menstrual healthcare through universal access to non-clinical menstrual cycle support, alongside medical treatment.

"We know that it is through rigorous menstrual health research that we will succeed as a society in addressing menstrual health inequalities and closing the gender pain gap”

Co-Founder of Meaningful Measures Ltd, Dr Marie Polley, says:

"We hope this data will create a blueprint to for other services to understand the range of concerns teenagers and women have about their menstrual health and lift the lid on this taboo subject."

The Meaningful Measures Ltd methodology

Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing® (MYCaW®) is an individualised questionnaire designed
for evaluating holistic and personalised approaches to supporting people. It asks participants to list
one or two concerns and evaluate them on a linear scale; this method identifies and tracks the
severity of unmet needs of participants as well, if not better, than other standard Patient Reported
Outcome Measures (PROMs).

Participants are encouraged to complete the short online form, anonymously, at the beginning and
at the end of the course, as well as 3-, 6- and 12-months following course completion.

First annual report published 2023

We will be working with the experienced academic team at Meaningful Measures Ltd to produce our
first annual report in 2023, which will help us to evolve the course content to further meet the needs
of those suffering with their menstrual cycle, inform further research and further legitimise the dire
need for universal non-clinical menstrual cycles support.

Dr Marie Polley, leader in the international social prescribing movement

Meaningful Measures Ltd founders are Dr Helen Seers and Dr Marie Polley, who pioneered research
into the holistic concerns of cancer patients.

Dr Marie Polley, is a pioneer of the international social prescribing movement leading the first
national guidance for social prescribing, the first economic overview of social prescribing on health
service usage, co-Founding the Social Prescribing Network and recently mapping all outcomes
associated with social prescribing to support discussion on inclusive ways of researching and
evaluating this growing field.

She says:

""We are delighted to be supporting Menstrual Cycle Support in their pioneering work to give women space to talk about and learn about their menstrual health. This is often a taboo subject leaving many teenagers and women to suffer in silence with a range of unmet needs. We are genuinely excited to see what we will all learn when the course participants are able to document their main concerns related to their menstrual health. We hope using our MYCaW tool will provide insight into what needs course
participants have and how the course addresses those needs. Finally, we hope this data will create a
blueprint to for other services to understand the range of concerns teenagers and women have about
their menstrual health and lift the lid on this taboo subject."

For further information please see www.meaningfulmeasures.co.uk and
www.socialprescribingnetwork.com/