Coping with stress incontinence: women's experiences of everyday inconveniences

Stress incontinence (SI) is a growing health concern among women. However, sufferers would choose to accept and not report their condition until it becomes too much to bear. Scant research is available to examine women who begin coping with SI and later decide to seek active advice and treatment. This study examined community-welling women's experiences of coping with SI and coping strategies used to manage incontinent situations prior to seeking professional help. A qualitative study was conducted on nine women from an out-patient nurse-led continence clinic of a Hong Kong hospital. Participants diagnosed with genuine SI and who were first-time visitors to the clinic were interviewed. Data were content analysed. Five categories emerged to encapsulate the participant's unique experiences of coping. The essence of coping with SI was for sufferers to gain 'personal' understanding of how the physiological problem impacted on daily lives. Based on self-assessment of the situation, sufferers reassured themselves that the problem was manageable and devised strategies to take control of everyday inconveniences, without needing to seek professional help. However, sufferers eventually succumbed to physical and psychosocial impacts of the condition. SI was difficult to conceal from others, and experiences were fearful and distressing. However, women were eager to share their coping experiences, particularly about fears and useful coping strategies. As it was women's first visit to the continence clinic, findings will inform the development of interventions to support newly diagnosed women sufferers' mixed emotions and unique disruptions of SI in daily living.