Women's narratives of long-term urinary incontinence

The purpose of this study was to use narrative analysis as a method for examining the lived experience and meaning of long-term, female urinary incontinence (UI).

Cognitive anthropology and critical medical anthropology provided the overall framework for this study. Theoretical saturation (Strauss, 1987) was achieved after 17 community-dwelling women with long-term (greater than 5 year's duration) UI were interviewed. Informants participated in two face-to-face, audiotaped, interviews and a semi-structured, topical outline for each interview was used. A field journal was used to supplement and validate other data. Informant's narratives were analyzed to emphasize the overall plot type of their stories.

In this study, three dominant plot types emerged from women's narratives: the UI Quest Narrative, UI Restitution and Redemption Narratives, and the UI Victim Narrative. These plot types provide a beginning understanding of the lived experience and meaning of long-term female UI.

Study findings suggest (a) long-term female UI is primarily conceptualized as a condition integrated into a larger life story, (b) women with long-term UI relate stories that follow a narrative format, and (c) long-term, female UI is heterogeneous. Findings go beyond existing literature by suggesting that women's UI narratives serve an important function in understanding the lived experience and the meaning of UI.