Research Roundup

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes functional, psychological, and socioeconomic losses, with long-term secondary complications such as bowel management playing an important role in the maintenance of care for SCI patients. For example, after sustaining SCI, changes in bowel movement, together with impaired sphincter control and loss of mobility, make bowel management a significant cause of morbidity.

These facts are cited by Çelik andTaylan (2023), who undertook a qualitative study to both determine the perceptions of nine wheelchair-dependent individuals in relation to bowel movement difficulties and investigate the effect of colostomy surgery on their experiences of bowel movements.

The participants – six female, three male – were aged between 32 and 52 years and were all married. The researchers found that three main themes emerged in relation to bowel movement management: (a) difficult experiences, like ‘I delay going to the toilet and end up with constipation’; (b) coping with difficulties, like ‘I try to go the toilet at the same hour every day to avoid constipation’; and (c) colostomy awareness experience, such as ‘people like me can understand me’.