September 2022 Decision Making About SCI Newsletter: How to Best Manage Bowel and Bladder Issues After Spinal Cord Injury

Read Volume 1, Issue 3 of our newsletter (PDF).  In the July issue of our newsletter, we discussed factors influencing decision making related to bladder and bowel problems. In August's publication, we focused on the challenging process of making these decisions; having to consider medical choices and the availability of needed resources. This newsletter describes findings regarding varied outcomes from these decisions. We considered two main outcomes: satisfaction with your decision and how this decision has impacted your quality of life (QOL). Along with seeing the study results here, you will meet Laura Jackson and Barbara Schoen PhD who openly reveal their perspectives on decisions and outcomes related to their own bladder and bowel complications. Woven throughout this newsletter's additional articles, several participants also comment on their decision outcomes. We defined outcomes as changes you could expect of what was done or undone to address these bladder and bowel complications. This included changes in methods of management, medications, surgical procedures, arrangements with caregivers, and availability of resources. In our previous issue, the consumer guides for bladder and bowel from the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) were highlighted. We recommend that you review these as they, too, provide many tips about how to best manage your bladder and bowel after SCI.