Questionnaire Results

In May 2003, Sondra Gorick arranged a meeting at the hospital where women with PCOS could get together and talk about PCOS and what it meant to them.

Sam, Sara and Joy offered to run a support group, and sent out a questionnaire to the people who had attended.

The results are as follows.

Olive questionnaire results

The results we had were encouraging and showed that we are doing the right thing by creating this group.

The majority of you wanted a support group - there was only one person who didn't - so a big thank you for that.

The main things you want from the group are:

• Latest information on PCOS - including treatments and symptoms
• To meet other people with PCOS, make local contacts and have fun
• Be able to have support, especially when coping with problems.

Living with PCOS is not easy, and we are hoping that through Olive, we can make all our lives easier.

• Sharing our own and other people's experiences
• Talking about our symptoms and how we cope with them (this includes, weight, hirtuism, fertility, fitness etc)
• Looking at ways to support each other - which will also be done through sharing experiences.

Guest speakers were a big yes, with suggestions including PCOS specialists, diet and fitness specialists, therapists - hirtuism, body, fertility etc.

In six months, the resounding aim was to have learned more about PCOS and understand it better. The sense of not feeling alone also came through strongly as well as a sense of fun.

The majority of you are interested in meeting quarterly, having a postal newsletter and a website to support the meetings/newsletter.

Conclusion

It was agreed that there was enough local interest for a support group to be formed.