Bowel Research UK is excited to support The Pelvic Floor Society on a Priority Setting Partnership for faecal incontinence.
What is faecal incontinence?
Faecal incontinence is the inability to control bowel movements, resulting in the involuntary leakage of stool. Caused by muscular injury and ageing amongst many other factors, the severity of this condition ranges from occasional leakage when passing gas to a complete loss of bowel control. Other symptoms include the passing of stool from the anus without awareness, which impacts the social and personal lives of those affected. You can read more about faecal incontinence here.
What is a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP)?
A Priority Setting Partnership or PSP is a project that aims to discover the top ten research priorities for a health condition. It brings together patients, carers, researchers, and health professionals to find out what really matters in a particular area.
The James Lind Alliance (JLA) is supporting this PSP, which has identified and prioritised unanswered questions around faecal incontinence. A PSP is just the beginning of research, as now the top ten priorities are identified, other researchers can use this to decide what to research in order to provide faecal incontinence patients with the help they need the most.
About the PSP
- How are general practitioners and others primary healthcare proefssionals best trained and suypported to provide best care for people living with faecal incontinence?
- How can the common causes of faecal incontinence be better understood, predicted and prevented?
- How can the risks of faecal incontinence associated with surgery, pelvic health, cancer treatment and childbirth be effectively communicated to patients, so there is understanding and informed agreement?
- How can people living with faecal incontinence be empowered to seek professional help and receive guidance to manage their condition in a safe and effective way (e.g. exercises, medication, diatary advice and hydration)?
- What are the most effective and acceptable treatment options for a given individual living with faecal incontinence?
- How can worsening or deterioriation of faecal incontinence be predicted and prevented (e.g. due to ageing or childbirth)?
- What are the most effective methods to prevent or control faecal urgency in people living with faecal incontinence?
- What is the role of medications in treating faecal incontinence? and how can the range of medications be improved?
- How can the psychological impact of faecal incontinence be better understood?
- What part does the community of microbes in the gut (the gut microbiome) play in faecal incontinence?