This project provides an important opportunity to engage with a health disparity population, women with Mullerian Anomalies (MAs), by addressing health information related barriers that are impacting health outcomes for this population.  Our project will build upon the outcomes achieved in our previous NNLM projects by: (1) identifying - on a much broader scale - the health information resources utilized by women with MAs via administration of a survey to online support groups, (2) determining the best practices for disseminating health information to this health disparity population, (3) extending the scope of an audit of all available online information to compare the quality of resources in predominantly rural states compared to urban states, and (4) producing a short film featuring the journey of a rural patient with an MA and highlighting the health information challenges she experienced. As females with MAs (gynecological birth defects found in approximately 7% of the general female population[1]) are a National Institutes of Health Sexual and Gender Minority health disparity population[2] given their reproductive development differs from physiological norms, efforts such as ours can ultimately assist in addressing the current gaps in access to health care and health information for this population.

[1]Sotirios H. Saravelos, Karen A. Cocksedge, Tin-Chiu Li, Prevalence and diagnosis of congenital uterine anomalies in women with reproductive failure: a critical appraisal, Human Reproduction Update, 2008, 14 (15), 415–429, https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmn018

[2] Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office, National Institutes of Health: Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-139 Sexual and Gender Minority Populations in NIH-Supported Research, August 28, 2019. Accessed online at: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-19-139.html