September 10, 2010 (CHARLESTON, SC)—Recent research by the National Association For Continence (NAFC) aimed at understanding the barriers and frustration women encounter in seeking diagnosis and intervention for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) has been published in the September 2010 issue of the Australian and New Zealand Continence Journal (ANZCJ). There is no known, previously published research documenting the experiences, feelings and attitudes of women experiencing POP in their search for appropriate diagnosis and intervention.

A survey, distributed via NAFC’s Quality Care® newsletter, was completed by female readers who self-reported symptoms of POP. Those respondents who agreed to participate in an in-depth telephone interview were in turn contacted directly by NAFC for a private discussion. Although a standard array of questions were asked in each conversation, responses were entirely open-ended and thus unstructured. Answers were then categorized so that the qualitative feedback could be analyzed. Each interview lasted approximately 45 minutes. Findings of the study included difficulty reported by respondents in discussing symptoms with their doctors and a lack of recognition of the severity of POP by primary care physicians. Respondents also complained about inadequate public health education and promotion of the subject in the U.S.

NAFC recieved funding for this study by a grant provided by the now-divested urology division of Mentor Corp and Ethicon’s Women’s Health & Urology, a division of Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. A full copy of the abstract of the study, as it appears in ANZCJ, can be found on NAFC’s website along with the study’s appendices covering the scope of questions asked during interviews.

About ANZCJ
The Australian and New Zealand Continence Journal is a scientific, partially peer reviewed journal, produced under the auspice of the Continence Foundation of Australia and New Zealand Continence Association (NZCA) on a quarterly basis. The ANZCJ is a member of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and follows the recommendations of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

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