Using various recruiting methods, the authors identified 10 women who suffer from flatal and/or fecal incontinence subsequent to one or more previous vaginal deliveries. Each of these women participated in an individual in-depth 1-hour interview assessing symptom frequency, severity, and impact on quality of life. Participants also completed the Fecal Incontinence Quality-of-Life Scale and evaluated how well this scale captured their experiences. The authors used qualitative analyses to generate themes from the interviews and modified the existing scale, adding new items and themes to capture this population's particular symptom experience. This scale is being evaluated in the context of a surgical clinical trial comparing two techniques for repairing anal sphincter lacerations from delivery.
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