TY - JOUR TI - Regaining control DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3057D5P PY - 2014 AB - Rational for the study: Despite an extensive body of literature about urinary incontinence (UI), and it being a ‘hazard of hospitalization,’ no studies about new-onset UI from the perspectives of older adults were identified. Methodology: University and Hospital Institutional Review Boards approved this study. Data sources included: almost 170 hours from 61 field visits between December 2009 to May 2012, interviews with 14 participants, and their medical records. Grounded Theory methodology was followed (Glaser, 1978; 1992; 1998; 2002; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Theoretical Findings: In sharing experiences with new-onset UI, the main concern of the participants, loss of control, emerged. Triggered by biological damage caused by illness or injury, the substantive theory of Regaining Control illuminates episodes of loss of bladder control as a part of a much broader concern: physical, spatial-temporal, and social aspects of loss of control. This complex, iterative and overlapping three-phase process - Transferring Control, Exercising “Wobbly” Control, and Adjusting to Degree of Control Regained – describes and explains the behavioral patterns of how participants worked to resolve, or attempted to resolve, loss of control. Three conditions influence this process: biological recuperation, understandings of hospitals, and provisional controllers. Conclusion: Regaining Control contributes to the literature about UI, control, and patient-centered care. Findings provide theoretical groundwork that addresses the social and environmental factors previously identified as a gap in the UI literature (Palmer, 2004). Three important perspectives of control are offered: the action-oriented nature of control, the process of control sharing between patients and provisional controllers, and the change in control that occurs during hospitalization. KW - Nursing KW - Urinary incontinence in old age KW - Urinary incontinence--Social aspects KW - Older people--Health and hygiene LA - eng ER -