Living with a young person who wets the bed: the families' experience.

After allergic disorders, bed-wetting is the most common chronic condition of childhood. It can seriously diminish the quality of life of young people and their families, having an impact on day-to-day activities, family holidays and the young person's willingness and ability to stay away from home with friends and wider family. In this ethnographic study, family members describe the practical and social consequences of bed-wetting, both for themselves and for the family, and the methods that they have employed to encourage the bed-wetting to stop. Most of these methods have little chance of success. Many families' feelings of helplessness and isolation are reinforced by lack of help from healthcare professionals, although the professional's intention to be helpful is rarely questioned. The nature of the families' experiences illustrates the urgent need for adopting a new professional approach to the support of these families, which is based on the principles of 'family nursing'.