Toileting Behaviors Related to Urination in Women: A Scoping Review

Abstract

This scoping review explores the state of science regarding women’s toileting behaviors, gaps in knowledge, and areas for future research. Online databases were searched to identify papers published in English between January 2010 through July 2019; the search identified 25 articles. The Toileting Behaviors–Women’s Elimination Behaviors scale has been published in four validated language versions and used in 17 of the 25 studies. The most frequent behaviors include concern about public toilet cleanliness, delaying urination when busy or away from home, and using different toileting postures at and away from home. Determinants of toileting behaviors include environmental factors, chronic health conditions, and cognitive/psychological factors. Associations were found between toileting behaviors and lower urinary tract symptoms and between toileting postures and uroflowmetric parameters and post-void residual volume. Strategies that address modifiable determinants of toileting behaviors should be developed and tested in future research. Furthermore, little is known about the toileting behaviors and bladder health in older women and women from developing countries. Rigorous studies are needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms of toileting behaviors, the nature of associations between toileting behaviors and lower urinary tract symptoms, and effects of the environment on women’s toileting behaviors.

Why Do Women Not Use the Bathroom? Women’s Attitudes and Beliefs on Using Public Restrooms

“…Our study found time constraints, and rules and regulations to be common limitations to restroom use at work. Prior studies have shown that "waiting too long to urinate" is associated with LUTS in women [19,20] and that women in occupations where restroom use is limited have a higher prevalence of LUTS compared to those with less restricted restroom access [5,19,21]. Increased education for employers and changes to the way time for restroom use affects interpretation of "productivity" by employers is necessary in order for women to be better able to manage bladder health in a work environment.…”

The Development of a Public Bathroom Perception Scale

“…Even the vandalism on public bathrooms shows gender differences [70]. These differences in scale scores may affect some of the reported problematic uses of bathrooms by women [32].…”

“…Some studies report that women's public bathroom interactions lead to adverse emotional outcomes [3,31]. Regarding the behavior related to public bathrooms, women try to limit the use of public bathrooms as a result of bad experiences with them that may result in bladder and other health problems [32]. Further, built environments tend to be less adjusted to women's needs in different areas [33,34].…”

Saúde urinária e intestinal de profissionais de enfermagem em tempos de pandemia da COVID-19: uma reflexão teórica

“…Cabe salientar que a constipação intestinal crônica tem como consequências complicações clínicas severas como fecaloma, pseudodiarreia, volvo, além de ser um fator de risco para o desenvolvimento da incontinência urinária e baixa qualidade de vida (Assis et al, 2020;Schmidt et al, 2015;Wu et al, 2019).…”

“…Ainda nesse contexto, faz-se necessári9o destacar a incontinência urinária que é a perda de urina de caráter involuntário, condição em que muitos indivíduos convivem com esse problema acreditando ser normal e sentem-se constrangidos de comentar com familiares e amigos, ou ainda de buscar ajuda profissional. Contudo, existem repercussões econômicas, sociais, psicológicas e de saúde que este acometimento gera (Abrams et al, 2017;Wu et al,2019).…”