Abstract
BACKGROUND: Healthcare providers often lack awareness, knowledge, and confidence in managing vulvodynia, which can lead to difficulties with diagnosis and treatment for individuals with the condition. OBJECTIVE: To develop and test an educational online toolkit tailored to supporting community-based primary care providers with diagnosis, treatment, and patient support for vulvodynia. METHODS: A sample of 19 community-based family physicians completed online surveys before and after testing the Vulvodynia Primary Care Toolkit (the toolkit hereafter) in their practice for 6 months. Nine physicians also completed a semi-structured interview to describe their experiences using the toolkit. RESULTS: The toolkit was adopted into clinical care, being used an average of 4.1 times per physician (SD = 2.7) during the test period. The toolkit demonstrated high acceptability, as evidenced by a high level of reported satisfaction with the toolkit and the amount of information it contained. The toolkit increased self-reported knowledge and confidence in diagnosing (P = .003), treating (P < .001), and supporting (P < .001) patients with vulvodynia. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we generated five themes from interview data that represented physicians' experiences: (i) There are facilitators and barriers to toolkit use in practice, (ii) the toolkit is valued by family physicians, (iii) the toolkit is educational, (iv) the toolkit is empowering, and (v) the toolkit improves vulvodynia management and referrals. CONCLUSION: An online educational toolkit tailored to community-based primary care settings supports the management of patients with vulvodynia by family physicians. Our findings lay the foundation for the upscaling of this tool.