Washable absorbent continence products, usability and acceptability: Project report from a three-country study in India, Papua New Guinea and Romania

Abstract

Introduction Incontinence (the involuntary loss of urine or faeces) is a global health and social care challenge. For many of the hundreds of millions of people living with daily incontinence globally, treatment is not available or not effective (1). For these people, the reliable containment of urine or faeces that is involuntarily lost from the body is essential to health and quality of life. The most commonly used containment devices are absorbent products (either disposable or washable), but many people need to improvise, using items such as old clothing. Only around a quarter of people requiring continence products have access to them (2). At the moment, specifically designed washable absorbent products (WAPs) are not widely used and are not easily available in most settings despite being an effective option for many. To understand more about the use of WAPs and the potential for wide-scale adoption, this research study examined the perceptions of people receiving WAPs and local service providers on the usability and acceptability of washable products, in three countries: India, Papua New Guinea and Romania.

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ORCID for C. Murphy: orcid.org/0000-0003-1244-5106

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