Urinary incontinence (UI) is highly prevalent peri-partum. To gain more understanding regarding the gap between the prevalence of UI and actual help seeking behaviour of peri-partum women, this study aims to understand, (1) how peri-partum women experience UI and which factors influence these experiences and (2) the perspective of health care professionals on UI during pregnancy, and the first year after childbirth.
A qualitative approach was used, using semi-structured interviews with adult pregnant and up to 1 year post-partum women and a focus group with health care professionals (HCP's) involved in the care of pregnant and post-partum women. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Six pregnant and seven post-partum women were included. Nearly all of these women expressed to be not, or only slightly bothered by their UI and accept it as a result of pregnancy and/or delivery. They were surprised because they were unaware that UI could be a problem. None of the HCP's routinely asked about the presence of UI during pregnancy. At the post-natal check at 6 weeks post-partum, UI is still not a standard question for the majority of the gynecologists and registrars in contrast to the midwives.
The interviewed women with UI during pregnancy and the first year after childbirth were surprised but hardly bothered by their UI and accept it as part of being pregnant or as a result of the delivery. HCP's do not routinely discuss UI during pregnancy or post-partum.
What is already known on this subject? Peri-partum women with urinary incontinence often believe it is normal and will resolve by itself over time. Health care professionals in peri-partum care, although knowledgeable on urinary incontinence, do not standardly discuss urinary incontinence in The Netherlands. A majority of peri-partum women do not seek professional help.What this study adds? The beliefs peri-partum women have on urinary incontinence probably originates from information from a health care professional, friend or the internet. To disclose their urinary incontinence, women need to be timely and structurally asked by their health care professional. A lack of time is one of the reasons why health care professionals do not standardly discuss this topic.
Maternal and child health journal. 2023 Mar 29 [Epub ahead of print]
Heidi F A Moossdorff-Steinhauser, Inge Houkes, Bary C M Berghmans, Marc E A Spaanderman, Esther M J Bols
School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands. ., School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands., Pelvic Care Center Maastricht, CAPHRI, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands., Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, MUMC+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.