Identifying Womens' Needs in Making a Treatment Decision for Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Qualitative Study

Choosing a treatment option for female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a preference-sensitive decision. Nowadays, shared decision making (SDM) is the preferred way of decision making. SDM considers the needs patients have regarding the decision-making process. The aim of this study was to identify decisional needs of women who are making a treatment decision for SUI.

Semistructured interviews were planned with women who had been seeking treatment for SUI. Patients were recruited in two teaching hospitals in the Netherlands. Interviewers used a topic list based on the Ottawa decision support framework. The interviews were transcribed and coded. Themes and subthemes of factors relating to the treatment decision-making process were identified and described.

We interviewed a total of 16 women. Four major themes of SUI patients' needs were identified: information on disorder and treatment, SDM, personalized health care, and consideration for social context. Within these themes, specific needs varied between individuals. In addition to the provision of objective information, other important identified needs were subjective, such as acknowledgment of symptoms and feeling understood by a physician. It was important for patients that they had a sufficient amount of time to make their decision.

To ensure a good quality treatment decision in female SUI, several topics need to be addressed in an SDM process. The themes of decisional needs identified in this study can help improve the decision-making process.