Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, KM Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Karamsad, Gujarat, India.
Professor, Department of Community Medicine, PS Medical College, Karamsad, Gujarat, India.
Indian J Public Health. 2020 Jan-Mar;64(1):17-21. doi: 10.4103/ijph.IJPH_436_18.
It is necessary to understand the way women think about their health. There is a "culture of silence" among women regarding urinary incontinence (UI). Physiotherapy is proven effective mode of therapy in case of UI.
This study aimed to explore the attitude of the women toward UI, to understand the related sociocultural factors and health-seeking behavior, and to ascertain the challenges encountered in community-based physiotherapy interventions.
A qualitative study was conducted among women who refused to participate in a physiotherapy intervention for UI in the rural community of Gujarat, India. Fourteen in-depth key informant interviews were conducted using an interview guide. The responses were noted and compiled into a composite interview script. Interviews were not recorded due to nonavailability of consent. Interviews were reviewed by investigators and content analysis was carried out. Key themes were identified after multiple iterations.
Most of the women were unaware of the UI and believed that it may be due to their gender or due to aging. Physiotherapy interventions were disregarded due to various reasons such as shy nature, lack of priority and privacy, dependency, self-neglect, and influence of social and cultural norms.
Cultural and social systems were more important determinants of health seeking than health systems themselves particularly when sensitive issue such as UI in women of rural Western India was concerned.
了解女性对自身健康的看法是必要的。女性在尿失禁（UI）方面存在“沉默文化”。物理疗法已被证明是治疗 UI 的有效模式。
本研究旨在探讨女性对 UI 的态度，了解相关的社会文化因素和寻求健康的行为，并确定在社区为基础的物理治疗干预中遇到的挑战。
在印度古吉拉特邦的农村社区中，对拒绝参加 UI 物理治疗干预的女性进行了定性研究。使用访谈指南进行了 14 次深入的关键知情人访谈。记录了受访者的回答并将其汇编成一份综合访谈脚本。由于没有获得同意，访谈未进行录音。由调查人员审查访谈并进行内容分析。经过多次迭代后确定了主要主题。
大多数女性都不知道 UI，她们认为 UI 可能是由于她们的性别或年龄导致的。由于害羞、缺乏优先级和隐私、依赖、自我忽视以及社会和文化规范的影响等各种原因，女性对物理治疗干预不屑一顾。
在涉及印度西部农村地区女性敏感问题（如 UI）时，文化和社会系统是健康寻求的重要决定因素，比卫生系统本身更为重要。
