[How affected persons and family caregivers experience everyday life with urinary incontinence]

Urinary incontinence is a complex problem, and worldwide millions of people are affected. How the affected persons and their related caregivers experience and arrange their day-to-day lives has hardly been studied. This was the motive for a two-and-a-half-year study in the German-speaking region. In the present article, the study results concerning the experiences of incontinence will be illustrated. There were 47 problem-centred interviews conducted with 32 affected persons and 15 related caregivers. These were analyzed by using the Grounded Theory method according to Strauss and Corbin. The experience of urinary incontinence is dependent on the cause of the incontinence and on whether the incontinent episodes take place in private or in public. Incontinence itself influences social, cultural, and sportive activities and partner relationship, in respect of the sexuality of the affected person. The results of the study will be discussed in the light of current research. In conclusion, the implications for the practice of caring will be discussed. Finally, it is shown that the nursing assessment and consultation, with regard to incontinence, must be orientated on the living environment of the concerned.