HER-BC: Health and Economics Research on Midlife Women in British Columbia
Exploring the experiences of people going through menopause-related transitions to better understand barriers to care, impacts to work and caregiving, and influences on daily living and quality of life.
About Our Research
The Women’s Health Research Institute, in partnership with Pacific Blue Cross and the BC Women’s Health Foundation, investigated the physical and psychological health experiences of midlife women. Of particular interest were the transitions related to menopause; associated symptoms, impacts to daily living, quality of life, work productivity and caregiving responsibilities.
The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, we conducted an online survey that assessed health conditions, menopause symptoms, health care access and barriers, work force participation and caregiving. In Phase 2, we interviewed 20 survey participants to deepen our understanding of the relationships among and throughout menopause, health and healthcare, work, caregiving, and quality of life.
Participants were:
- Between the ages of 39 to 60
- Residents of BC
- Assigned female at birth
- Identify as women, gender diverse, or trans
The HER-BC Report
We are thrilled to introduce the HER-BC Report, which includes a four-page Executive Summary with study rationale and need for research, and what to expect from the full report, including an overview of the key findings, and recommendations.
If you are someone who is undergoing menopause transitions and looking for resources and supports, we have a document that may be helpful to you (download here). This is a “living” document, meaning that we will continue to add to it as we become aware of resources. If you would like to add to it, please contact herbc@phsa.ca
About our Team
The Research Team is comprised of clinician scientists from psychology, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, including specialties in pain, health economics, methods specialists, knowledge translation, and in collaboration with patient partners.
Lori Brotto, Principal Investigator, Professor, UBC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Gina Ogilvie, Co-Investigator, Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Laurie Smith, Co-Investigator, Research Program Manager, BC Cancer and WHRI
Marina Adshade, Co-Investigator, Assistant Professor of Teaching, UBC, Vancouver School of Economics
Paul Yong, Co-Investigator, Associate Professor, UBC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Shirley Weir, Founder of Menopause Chicks
Kerstin Gustafson, Community Gynecologist & Program Development Lead for the BCWH Midlife Health Program
Cynthia Lin Hsieh, Primary Contact for HER-BC, Lead Research Coordinator
Amy Booth, Research Project Manager
Julia Santana Parrilla, Qualitative Specialist
Kathryn Dewar, Senior Research Manager
Nicole Prestley, Knowledge Translation Manager
Sabina Dobrer, Senior Statistician
Student Trainees
Zeba Khan, PhD(c), Trainee (January 2025 – Present)
Vaishali (Shelly) Sharma (May 2024 – September 2024)
Laura Ryan (May – June 2024)
Gloria Klein (September 2023 – April 2024)
Shiming Wu, graduate trainee (July – September 2023)
The research team thanks our patient-partners for their valuable input to our study:
Marianna Cervantes
Nancy Dodman
Jenny Keith
Jodi Goodrick
Jessica Scattolon
Alka Tandan
Patient partners offer insight into their experiences of midlife and menopause to better integrate patient priorities into the research project. This includes providing thoughts on how to:
- Interpret data
- Communicate findings and outcomes with the public
- Pursue future research concerning health during midilfe
We are currently prioritizing persons from equity-deserving groups to join our research team. We will provide patient partners a stipend for their time. Estimated time commitment is 10-15 hours (total), although you can decide your level of involvement with what you feel comfortable with.
Please email us at herbc@phsa.ca to let us know you are interested.