Men's incontinence as a gendered question of global public health - Finnish men’s experiences of life with incontinence
Talvinen, Silja (2024)
Talvinen, Silja
2024
Master's Programme in Public and Global Health
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2024-06-11
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202405216079
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202405216079
Tiivistelmä
Incontinence, as involuntary loss of urine or faeces, affects around 8% of adults worldwide. Incontinence can occur for people of all ages and impacts significantly on person’s life in physical, psychological, and social dimensions.
Men’s incontinence, their needs and experiences are understudied globally, albeit increasing research of prostate related incontinence. Additionally, within global public health agendas, incontinence has not been acknowledged as a global public health issue impacting populations worldwide. Men's incontinence and their specific needs constitute a gendered global public health concern, as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) discussions focused on gender often overlook this topic.
The aim of this thesis was to explore the experiences of Finnish men who use incontinence pads for health reasons and what are the development needs of public health systems to better support the men who live with incontinence. Additionally, this thesis discusses men’s incontinence as a gendered global public health issue, as well as its relevance to the global public health agenda.
The empirical data of the thesis consists of 14 autobiographical stories of Finnish men’s experiences of living with incontinence and using incontinence pads. The data was analysed utilizing Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). I formed three themes to describe how men self-manage incontinence: (1) concealing incontinence, (2) disclosing incontinence and (3) adapting to everyday life with incontinence. Further, I created three themes to describe how public health systems should be developed to better support men who live with incontinence: (1) accessible incontinence care, (2) acknowledging experiential knowledge and (3) closing the gap of knowledge and enhancing public discussions.
The findings of this thesis validate that the lack of knowledge and understanding of men’s specific incontinence needs extends beyond public health systems, simultaneously amplifying the individual impacts of incontinence. Public health systems continence care practices should assess male incontinence in a more holistic manner in collaboration with other relevant actors. Global public health discourses should also recognise male incontinence as gendered global health issue which could help to acknowledge it on the global public health agendas and national health systems, and therefore improve continence care and support for people of all genders.
The empirical analysis of this thesis is situated in high-income country context. When considering a global perspective, acknowledging incontinence should be approached in a culturally sensitive manner, taking into account the specificities of each country, area, and people. This would foster the development of more continence aware health systems and societies worldwide.
Men’s incontinence, their needs and experiences are understudied globally, albeit increasing research of prostate related incontinence. Additionally, within global public health agendas, incontinence has not been acknowledged as a global public health issue impacting populations worldwide. Men's incontinence and their specific needs constitute a gendered global public health concern, as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) discussions focused on gender often overlook this topic.
The aim of this thesis was to explore the experiences of Finnish men who use incontinence pads for health reasons and what are the development needs of public health systems to better support the men who live with incontinence. Additionally, this thesis discusses men’s incontinence as a gendered global public health issue, as well as its relevance to the global public health agenda.
The empirical data of the thesis consists of 14 autobiographical stories of Finnish men’s experiences of living with incontinence and using incontinence pads. The data was analysed utilizing Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). I formed three themes to describe how men self-manage incontinence: (1) concealing incontinence, (2) disclosing incontinence and (3) adapting to everyday life with incontinence. Further, I created three themes to describe how public health systems should be developed to better support men who live with incontinence: (1) accessible incontinence care, (2) acknowledging experiential knowledge and (3) closing the gap of knowledge and enhancing public discussions.
The findings of this thesis validate that the lack of knowledge and understanding of men’s specific incontinence needs extends beyond public health systems, simultaneously amplifying the individual impacts of incontinence. Public health systems continence care practices should assess male incontinence in a more holistic manner in collaboration with other relevant actors. Global public health discourses should also recognise male incontinence as gendered global health issue which could help to acknowledge it on the global public health agendas and national health systems, and therefore improve continence care and support for people of all genders.
The empirical analysis of this thesis is situated in high-income country context. When considering a global perspective, acknowledging incontinence should be approached in a culturally sensitive manner, taking into account the specificities of each country, area, and people. This would foster the development of more continence aware health systems and societies worldwide.