Urinary Incontinence in US Women - Essay Example

Article Appraisal Name: Institution: Article Appraisal Perceptions of Urinary Incontinence Among Syrian Christian Women Living in Sweden by Gunnel, A., Jan, E.J., Kerstin, N., and Eva, S.B. Introduction Urinary incontinence is a condition that is characterized by continuous involuntary leakage of urine (Lee et al., 2010). Many scholars have attributed this to loss of bladder control and the condition is more prevalent in women than women. Symptoms of this condition may range from mild leakage to continuous wetting (Ueda et al., 2010). The psychological and emotional implication of this condition cannot be underestimated. In one research that was conducted in Sweden, researchers sought to understand how Christian women in the country perceived the condition (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). Their findings and recommendations were then published in a research article. In this paper, the quality of the research basing on ethics that govern how a research should be undertaken and published is examined. The main purpose is to demonstrate the ability to critically analyze and apply findings of a research. Title This research article is entitled “Perceptions of Urinary Incontinence among Syrian Christian Women Living in Sweden”. From this title, it is clear to the reader that the research is intended to describe how Christian women living in Syria perceive Urinary Incontinence. This makes the understanding of the research paper content easier since the title itself gives a brief overview of what it is all about. Abstract In the abstract part, the article has been summarized in short sentences under small subtitles that run across the entire article. The purpose of the research, the methodology used, data and the findings of the research have been well summarized in the article which gives the reader an easy time in understanding what is covered in the article (Ueda et al., 2010). In addition to that, the abstract can come in handy to assist those readers who might be in a hurry and don’t want to go through the whole article because it gives a synopsis of whole article. Literature review/Background/Introduction Before the official commencement of this research, this team of researchers gathered information about the subject of study from various sources. This is evident in the kind of statistics that have been presented in the introductory paragraph of this research article. It begins by giving out statistics of those who are greatly affected by the condition on the basis of their gender and age according to a research conducted by Hunskaar et al (2000). Past studies that have ever been conducted on urinary incontinence are also revisited, and their findings highlighted in the introduction e. g the research by Sampselle, Harlow, Skurnick and Bodarenko (2002). This serves as a background to this research since the team has been equipped with more information about the subject of study. This also builds up the background to the entire research (Thuroff et al., 2006). An introduction has also been included in the research article. Various aspects that are meant to introduce the reader to general facts about the research have been included in the introduction (Lee et al., 2010). First of all, the background to the research has been given and the main purpose of the research or the objectives clearly stated in the introduction. Reading the introduction, a reader gets to know that the main purpose of this research was to explain perception of urinary incontinence among Christian women living in Sweden. The introduction also contains some basic statistics that indicate the number of inhabitants in the country and their distribution across the multicultural lines (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). Therefore, basing on these facts, the introduction to this research can be termed as appropriate since it provides sufficient information concerning the research and this is how an introduction to a research paper should be (Melville et al., 2005). Ethical consideration It is important for any research conducted to follow all the guidelines that govern a research especially where human subjects are involved (Melville et al., 2005). This research was concerned with a very sensitive issue that might have provoked question about ethics and respect to human rights. The study was to examine human private life and specifically women on an issue that might be too embarrassing on the side of the subjects. Researchers used a method of sampling participants that can be deemed suitable for this research since all the participants were aware of the kind of research and the processes that they were to undergo through (Melville et al., 2005). Throughout the research, there is no reported case where human rights were violated. The research therefore remained within the domain that directs ethically compliant researches. The nurses at the hospital were also familiar with the participants and could therefore provide emotional support whenever it was needed during the interview. Methodology Choice of method of study is very important for any particular research to be effective and also for obtaining reliable results. The choice of method is affected by many factors which range from the purpose of the research, the subjects to be dealt with and lastly the ethics that govern the research (Anger et al., 2006). The main aim of this research was to find information that can be used to better the healthcare system with the specific problem being urinal incontinence among women. To achieve this, there was need to carry out a cross cultural study among people of different ethnic background so as to understand how the different communities perceive the condition (Ueda et al., 2010). In a small town called Orebro in Sweden where this research was conducted, there was a significant number of Syrian Christian women who were targeted for the purpose of the research. This research was carried out between April and October of 2006. In the process of sampling, 14 Syrian women aged between 30 to 80 years were identified for the exercise. This can be considered to be the right age bracket since most of the cases that have been reported indicate that there is a high prevalence of the condition in this age bracket (Ueda et al., 2010). There were two categories of participants. There were those who were selected by the nurse known to them and those who were selected through what is referred to as snowball sampling. The first category can be termed as appropriate for the research since these participants are likely to develop confidence in the whole exercise (Ueda et al., 2010). In the second process, the participants were allowed to nominate others for the same exercise. When the two are evaluated, it can be noted that this mode of selecting participants was appropriate since it ensured that the target group was obtained (Sharaf et al., 2010). A qualitative descriptive design was then applied with the focus being on group discussion (FGD). All the Syrian women were interviewed in three FGD. The first FGD was composed of younger women and had no difficulties in communicating in Swedish. The other two categories comprised of women who were a bit older. The idea of dividing the participants can be termed to be of great importance to the whole research since the perception of each category can be easily understood and then compared to the other categories (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). An interpreter was also availed to translate the interview questions in cases where the participants didn’t understand the Swedish language. Researchers worked to ensure that the participants were relaxed throughout the research process. Questions were asked in a systematic criteria beginning from the background of the condition to specific questions (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). This is quite relevant in this research since it gives the respondent time to compose herself and answer the questions systematically. The advantage associated with this method of study is that the researchers get instant results directly from the respondents. However, the main disadvantage is that the perception of individuals might be influenced by groupthink (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). Data, Findings and Discussion The information gathered from the first FGD was handwritten by research assistants who were involved in the research. This was advantageous because information was jotted down as it came from the respondents thus minimizing errors that might have resulted when maybe another method was applied (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). On the second and third FGD, a tape recorder was applied to record information from the participants since they didn’t speak Swedish language. Because an interpreter is likely to make mistakes, recording the information in the original voice of the respondent could come in handy in cases where confirmation was required (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). Since this was a research that sought to collect data on perception of women, it was therefore appropriate to apply these simple mechanisms for collecting data from the field. In addition, these methods of data collection were cost effective since not much money was spend on them (Dmochowski & Dahm, 2010). The findings of this research were presented a prose form that explained the perception of these women in line with Urinary incontinence. There emerged three categories of the participants. According to the researchers, they could be categorized as “Thought on UI”, “Managing UI” and lastly “communication with the healthcare system.” The first category comprised of women who thought of Urinary incontinence as an issue that should be discussed and had had personal experiences with this condition (Sharaf et al., 2010). The second category was of those who thought who had the idea of availability of ways of managing the problem but they were yet to take that initiative because they were hesitating. The last group comprised of those who were in constant consultation with the health care system since they had taken the case as any other which needs medical attention. An extensive discussion was then carried out to identify other factors that might be contributing to the current perception of these Christian women about the condition (Sharaf et al., 2010). Under the discussion section of this research, there are ideas that came about as a result of analysis of the information collected. It was noted that communication is one of the main barriers to effective health care (Doughty, 2006). Poor communication led to poor communication of the symptoms to the relevant medical care panel. The elderly were found out to be the most affected in this case since they didn’t have anyone to take care of them when such cases happened to them (Sharaf et al., 2010). This research paper has therefore followed all the guidelines that require explicit discussion of the findings to ensure sufficient information has been furnished to the reader of the article. Recommendations This being a research, a recommendation was included with the aim of giving suggestions on what exactly can be done to improve awareness and confidence of women who are affected by the condition and don’t have the courage to come out and get the necessary medical attention. This section examines the recommendation made by the researchers to establish whether it reflects what other current clinical evidence suggests. The practicality of the recommendation and other steps that can be taken to improve future researches are also outlined. The Need to adjust the health care system In the recommendation, researchers suggested that there is need to include the needs of women in the healthcare system by giving their health a special attention. This should include the awareness of difficulties that are associated with communicating the symptoms of the urinary incontinence among women. The lack of a proper communication mechanism that can allow women to report cases of this condition in the healthcare system has led to a number of women ignoring the condition since they feel shameful disclosing the condition. Other clinical evidence suggests this and this is clearly indicated by the low number of women who turn up for medical attention in hospitals by themselves and open up to explain what they are undergoing. Practicality of the recommendation On the practical side, the recommendation made to change the perception of Syrian Christian women living in Sweden towards urinal incontinence is realistic and therefore implementation is possible and critical. This is because the suggestion only involves adjusting the healthcare system to include a unit that is dedicated for this purpose. Women and especially those who are unable to speak need someone who is able to do the translation for them so that they can effectively communicate their feelings. Lack of proper communication which creates a perception of negligence can be managed through setting up a taskforce in the health system that would be responsible for receiving information from those affected. Improvement on future Researches One major challenge that researchers faced while in the field was that of language barrier. Majority of Syrian Christian women were unable to speak Swedish language and translators had to be called in for assistance. There is need therefore to ensure that future researches include those who can understand the native language of the respondents so as to avoid cases where misinterpretation of the translated information occurs. Conclusion In summary, this research which was conducted to investigate the perception of Christian Syrian women in Sweden on the urinal incontinence was successful. The publication itself is well outlined with facts systematically presented. The methodology chosen for this research suits its purpose and the whole research stuck within ethics that govern scientific researches. Data is well recorded and analyzed and the findings of the research are clear to the reader since they are put in simple and straight forwad language. The recommendation made by the researchers is also sensible and applicable to this case. References Lee, S. R., Kim, H.W., Lee, J.W., Jeong, W.J., Rha, K. H., & Kim, J.H. (2010). Discrepancies in Perception of Urinary Incontinence between Patient and Physician after Robotic Radical Prostatectomy. Yonsei Med J, 51(6), 883-887. Ueda, T., Tamaki, M., Kageyama, S., Yoshimura, N., & Yoshida, O. (2010). Urinary incontinence among community-dwelling people aged 40 years or older in Japan: Prevalence, risk factors, knowledge and self-perception. International Journal of Urology, 7 (3), 95–103. DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-2042.2000.00147.x Thuroff, J., Abrams, P., Anderson, K. E., Artibani, W., Kastler, E. C., Hampel, C., & Kerrebroeck, P.V. (2006). Guidelines on urinary incontinence. European Association of Urology. Melville, J. L., Katon, W., Delaney, K., & Newton, K. (2005). Urinary Incontinence in US Women: A Population-Based Study. American Medical Association, 165,537-542. Retrieved from www.archinternmed.com Anger, J. T., Saigal, C.S., Madison, R., Joyce, G., & Litwin, M.S. (2006). Increasing costs of urinary incontinence among Female Medicare Beneficiaries. The Journal of Urology, 176, 247-251. Sharaf, A.Y., El Sebai, N.A., Ewieda, S.M., Shokry, M.S., & Salem, M.A. (2010). The Impact of Nursing Interventions on the Control of Urinary Incontinence among Women. Journal of American Science, 6 (10), 1256-1271. Dmochowski, R. & Dahm, P. (2010). Evidence-based Urology. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Doughty, D. B. (2006). Urinary & fecal incontinence: current management concepts. Philadelphia: Elsevier Health Sciences   Read More