Introduction While urinary incontinence is a condition that affects men and women of all ages, it is more prevalent amongst post-menopausal women. Chinese women have been under-represented at the uro-gynaecology clinic at the Royal Hospital for Women for reasons yet unknown. Objectives What are the reasons for this under-representation? Do the Chinese women in Sydney not know of the services available for urinary incontinence, or, do they not want to seek help? What are their beliefs on urinary incontinence, and how do these beliefs affect their health seeking behaviour, if at all? Methodology Informal interviews with continence specialists and other healthcare professionals determined the selection of Qualitative research methodology, using Grounded Theory and Ethnography. Focus group discussion and interviews were the data collection techniques used for this research. Chinese women that had been in Australia for less than 5 years, more than 5 years and those born in Australia were recruited to participate. Results & Conclusions The knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Chinese women in Sydney differ depending on whether or not they were born in Australia, and the length of time in Australia. With Australian born Chinese being more acculturated, having greater knowledge of the services available for urinary incontinence and more likely to seek help for urinary incontinence compared to overseas born Chinese women. While those women who had been in Australia for more than 5 years were more informed about the available services, they did not necessarily use the available services.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/257411 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Hubbard, Mandy Queeneth, Women's & Children's Health, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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