Merone, Lea, Tsey, Komla, Russell, Darren et al. · Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2022 · DOI
This study interviewed 20 Australian women with various chronic conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome, to understand their experiences with doctors and the healthcare system. The women reported that their pain and exhaustion were often dismissed or not taken seriously, which created fear and trauma around seeking medical care. The researchers found that women with chronic illnesses need doctors who are more knowledgeable, understanding, and empathetic about their conditions.
ME/CFS patients often experience significant diagnostic delays and symptom invalidation in healthcare settings. This study documents the real-world impact of sex and gender gaps in medicine on chronic illness patients, providing evidence that healthcare trauma and dismissal are common experiences that warrant systemic change in medical education and practice.
This study does not establish causation or measure the prevalence of these experiences across all Australian women or ME/CFS patients specifically. The small sample size and cross-sectional design mean findings cannot be generalized broadly, and the study does not quantify how often these negative experiences occur or identify specific interventions that improve care.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Merone, Lea, Tsey, Komla, Russell, Darren, & Nagle, Cate (2022). "I Just Want to Feel Safe Going to a Doctor": Experiences of Female Patients with Chronic Conditions in Australia.. Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.). https://doi.org/10.1089/whr.2022.0052
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-merone-2022-just-want,
author = {Merone, Lea and Tsey, Komla and Russell, Darren and Nagle, Cate},
title = {"I Just Want to Feel Safe Going to a Doctor": Experiences of Female Patients with Chronic Conditions in Australia.},
journal = {Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1089/whr.2022.0052},
note = {PubMed: 36636320},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/merone-2022-just-want},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/merone-2022-just-want
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.