Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology

Volume 126, Supplement 1, January 2004, Pages S175-S179
Gastroenterology

Priorities for treatment research
The perspective of the patient

https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2003.10.081Get rights and content

Abstract

The International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD) is a nonprofit education and research group. Founded in 1991, the IFFGD provides information and advice to patients around the world with fecal incontinence and other gastrointestinal disorders, educates physicians through medical symposia and other activities, funds and undertakes research, and provides testimony to Congress about the necessity of furthering research activities related to fecal incontinence through the National Institutes of Health. The IFFGD advocates research directed toward more comprehensive identification of quality-of-life issues associated with fecal incontinence and improved assessment and communication of treatment outcomes related to quality of life, standardization of scales to measure incontinence severity and quality of life, assessment of the utility of diagnostic tests for affecting management strategies and treatment outcomes, development of new drug compounds offering new treatment approaches to fecal incontinence, development and testing of strategies for primary prevention of fecal incontinence associated with childbirth, and further understanding of the process of stigmatization as it applies to the experience of individuals with fecal incontinence.

Section snippets

Living with fecal incontinence

The IFFGD has talked with thousands of patients with fecal incontinence. For many, finding support at the IFFGD was an opportunity to unburden themselves of secrecy and shame and to learn practical strategies for coping with the disorder. People with fecal incontinence differ widely in backgrounds and other demographic factors, but there is a common denominator: the disorder affects nearly every aspect of their daily lives. These individuals are attempting to manage bodily processes that cannot

More comprehensive identification of quality-of-life issues associated with fecal incontinence and improved assessment and communication of treatment outcomes related to quality of life

We believe that a comprehensive as well as humane view of the patient’s quality of life must be the starting point for any clinical approach to treating fecal incontinence and that improvement in terms of quality of life is an important gauge of the utility of any treatment. Accordingly, we want to promote and support research efforts aimed at (1) more precise identification and discrimination of quality-of-life issues associated with fecal incontinence and (2) improving assessment and

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