Nursing Management of Patients Dealing with Spina Bifida: from the Prenatal Diagnosis to Adulthood / Nursing Intervention for the Improvement of the Impact of Urinary and Fecal Incontinence on the Quality of Life of People Dealing with Spina Bifida

Abstract

Abstract Background Urinary and fecal incontinence in people dealing with spina bifida, has inevitably an influence on the quality of life. In this analysis, the degree of education on how to manage incontinence and retention is studied, as well as the problems those might create and the consequential degree of autonomy and independence reached into the management of those. The main goal is to increase both nursing assistance and the education of the people dealing with spina bifida.Methods 125 people affected by spina bifida, belonging to the ASBI (Associazione Spina Bifida Italia) decided to file a survey concerning the bowel and bladder management. The survey was done through the “Google Docs” platform, with a link that was then shared to the members of the association by the secretariat of the association itself.Results out of 125 participants, 80 were females and 25 males. The questions concerned the level of deambulation (the 35,2% was autonomous, the 30,4% were people who use wheelchairs while the 34,4% is aid-supported), urinary incontinence, with great concern to the self-catheterization technique (the 80,8% claimed to be autonomous in performing self-catheterization, unlike the remaining 19,2%) and the impact of the said incontinence on social life (the 59,2% claimed they do not feel restrained because of their bladder incontinence or retention, unlike the remaining 40,8%). Lastly, we focused on fecal constipation and incontinence (the 57,6% claimed to struggle with incontinence, the 12% claimed they don’t and the 30,4% struggles with both conditions), on the ability of the people dealing with this to intervene to prevent unpleasant situations, in particular by using trans-anal irrigation (the 57,6% doesn’t feel autonomous in performing it).Conclusion urinary and fecal incontinence have, of course, an impact on the quality of life of people dealing with spina bifida. Nevertheless, we can observe that it is possible to improve the quality of life of these people, letting them feel confident enough to take part in social activities, through education from an incredibly young age, supplied by the medical staff and mostly by the parents (previously educated by the medical staff as well).