Redefining support for women with urinary incontinence through a new approach
Applied to a design proposal that focuses on managing urinary incontinence
M.E. Hoogma (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
J.A.C. Rietjens – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
N. Schouten – Mentor (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
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Abstract
This project focused on women experiencing involuntary urine loss. It is estimated that one in four (Linde et al., 2016; Pedersen, et al., 2017), to one in three women experience urinary incontinence (Loohuis et al., 2022). Despite the negative impact on women’s quality of life (Van Geelen & Hunskaar, 2005; Van Gerwen et al., 2009) and the availability of effective medical treatments (Nightingale, 2020) only a minority seeks medical support for their symptoms (Diokno et al., 2004; Hannestad et al., 2002; Kinchen et al., 2003; O’Donnell et al., 2005; Sykes et al., 2005). This knowledge served as the initial problem from which this project started.
To understand the context and to be able to redefine the problem, three research questions where defined:
•How do women between 35-65 years old experience urinary incontinence symptoms and cope with them?
•How does the process of seeking (medical) treatment and support unfold for women between 35-65 years old experiencing incontinence symptoms, and what are the patterns, barriers and triggers in this process?
•What are the wishes and needs of women between 35-65 years old with incontinence symptoms and how could they be supported?
These three research questions structured the project and guided the context analysis. This context analysis showed that understanding women’s wishes and needs was the most important part of the project, as it helped to identify gaps in existing support and highlighted the inadequacy of current interventions. The recognition of the insufficient support available led to a broader understanding of the concept of support, extending beyond medical treatment, for example, protective equipment, toilet access, information and social support. It was recognised that the experience of the condition was negatively affected through these forms of current support: characterised by: stigmatised, frustrating, unsupportive, unwanted and limiting.
This resulted in the following problem statement: Current interventions for managing involuntary urinary leakage do not fully support women. This causes a gap between the interventions that should support women and the challenges associated with the condition, allowing its challenges and impact to persist.
The inadequacy of current support can be explained by the following key characteristics:
•Current interventions fail to connect with/ reach women.
•Do not align with women’s needs and preferences.
•Existing solutions focus only on isolated aspects of the condition.
•Some solutions unintentionally reinforce difficulties.
•Simply do not exist.
Based on this problem statement the following design goal was defined: My design goal is to enable women to feel in control, supported and empowered in their management of urinary incontinence. Which aimed to bridge the gap between the available support and the actual needs of women managing urinary incontinence. This goal was supported by the following sub-goals:
•By fostering confidence and satisfaction in managing leakage among women.
•By creating a more positive association with urinary incontinence and the related products.
•By creating a clear understanding of urinary incontinence and the treatment options.
Inspired by findings of the context analysis a concept proposal was defined, aimed to minimise the practical challenges associated with leakage and the use of protection, to address the need for information and to redefine the interaction and experience of supportive interventions for urinary incontinence. Through co-creation sessions and prototype the concept proposal was further defined, resulting in BIJDEHAND.
This concept was assessed by evaluation tests, which showed that it was evaluated as positive, supportive and desirable while also revealing areas for improvement.
The final concept is not a definitive solution to the problem definition, but an example of how support could be provided for women experiencing involuntary urine loss. In addition, this project demonstrates how the intended user can be actively involved throughout the design process to understand and design for their wishes and needs.