title: Urine incontinence in women aged sixty to sixty-five: negotiating meaning and responsibility.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Urine incontinence (UI) has been the focus of a considerable number of research projects; yet, there is no evidence that the research has had an impact on the prevalence of UI. Despite great impact on daily living, women seem to be reluctant to seek help from professionals or talk about the problem. Apart from this, scholars have noted that healthcare practitioners rarely ask older women about this health aspect and seem to minimise the problem when confronted with it.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to explore how meaning of UI was discursively constructed and negotiated by women bothered with long-term UI in the context of research interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven women aged 60-65 living in the Faroe Islands were interviewed to elaborate on daily living with long-term UI. The interview texts were analysed by means of discourse analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three main themes emerged from the interviews. All the women related the disorder to their age and positioned themselves within the category 'old women' for whom UI was considered a normal condition. At the same time, they opposed to the idea that the condition was inevitable and accused their general practitioners of negligence by failing to take their complaints seriously. They felt ashamed of being incontinent and seemed to subject themselves to moral and aesthetic views about people who were not able to control their bladder function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  All the women used different cultural discourses to make meaning of UI and continuously negotiated these meanings. Avoiding public exposure of their leaking problem restricted their daily living, and the embarrassment of not being able to control their bladder function seemed to overrule any wish of actively dealing with their present condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, University of Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
authors.forename: Ása
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Róin
authors.affiliation: National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later Life, Linkoping University, Tórshavn, Sweden.
authors.forename: Catharina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nord
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: ageing; discourse analysis; interpretive repertoires; interview; urine incontinence; women