ABSTRACT
In this chapter I use two sources of data to examine conflicting definitions of female urinary incontinence (FUI) and the consequences of this conflict for the provision of continence health care: first, the contents of a range of written material given to patients attending specialist nurse-led continence clinics, including general health promotion literature as well as more specific (in) continence literature; and second, data derived from interviews with ten specialist continence nurses/advisers (SCNs) working in a range of community and community/acute Trusts. Combining the evidence from both sets of data, I demonstrate the presence of conflicting understandings of FUI, how these understandings are embedded in underlying cultural expectations of the female body and, finally, how these meanings come together to inform the provision of continence services. I show how the interplay of conflicting understandings of FUI contributes to a situation in which different health care professionals communicate ‘mixed messages’ to women about incontinence, thereby serving to militate against coherent service provision.
