Urinary incontinence - the family caregivers' perspective

Urinary incontinence can be expected to present an issue in domestic care with various conditions and ways of dealing with the situation. This pilot study investigates the kinds of coping strategies developed by family caregivers of urinary incontinent persons. Therefore, it seeks to explore how family caregivers experience and shape everyday life with an incontinent family member.Based on a qualitative design, problem-centered interviews were carried out with 10 family caregivers (4 men, 6 women) and analyzed according to Grounded Theory.The results show that family caregivers place major emphasis on maintaining continence, which is conceived as an expression of concern for the care-dependent person. The data facilitated the development of four major concepts: incontinence as a cause of dependency, feelings of shame, striving for continence and coping with incontinence. These concepts indicate that family caregivers look for strategies to provide the incontinent family member with the opportunity of (self-) controlled excretion. Yet this kind of support is linked to feelings of shame on both parts.