What Women Really Think About Overactive Bladder Treatments: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition that substantially impairs quality of life, yet it remains underreported and undertreated. A new systematic review and meta-synthesis, published in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, has brought together the qualitative evidence on how women with OAB, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals actually experience and perceive the treatments on offer.

The research team, led by investigators at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, searched MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar and CINAHL from inception to January 2026 for qualitative studies exploring treatment experiences among women with OAB, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals. Three reviewers independently screened the studies, extracted data, and performed line-by-line coding. The material was synthesized using thematic synthesis. Methodological quality was assessed with the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist, and confidence in the synthesized findings was evaluated using the GRADE-CERQual approach.

Thirteen qualitative studies made it into the final synthesis. From them, the reviewers identified forty-five codes, which they distilled into five analytical themes. The first, and perhaps the most clinically resonant, is the tension between the burden of treatment and the burden of illness.

The second theme is the erosion of trust in the therapeutic alliance, driven by poor communication and unmet expectations.

Third, the reviewers describe a knowledge gap and a desire for agency. Women in the included studies reported unmet informational needs and a preference for shared decision-making. The fourth theme gathers the psychosocial barriers to treatment engagement: stigma, embarrassment, isolation, and emotional distress.

The fifth theme is a preference for low-burden treatments and a resistance to behavioural change. Women favoured convenient therapies and reported difficulty sustaining long-term behavioural interventions.

Taken together, the synthesis concludes that experiences of OAB treatment extend well beyond symptom control. They are shaped by psychosocial burden, healthcare interactions, treatment expectations, and the need for autonomy. The authors suggest that patient-centered communication, shared decision-making, and individualized support may improve treatment engagement, satisfaction, and adherence.

It is worth being clear about what this study is and what it is not. It is a synthesis of qualitative research, designed to surface themes in lived experience and professional perception, not a trial measuring whether any particular intervention works. The thirteen included studies were appraised for methodological quality with CASP, and confidence in the synthesized findings was formally assessed with GRADE-CERQual, but the conclusions describe perceptions and experiences rather than clinical efficacy.

Even so, the implications are pointed. For service designers, the finding that patients prefer low-burden options and struggle with sustained behavioural change argues for support structures that make those programmes easier to maintain. The study appears in the journal’s Quality of Life section, a fitting home for work whose central claim is that quality of life is exactly where OAB care succeeds or fails.

Subject of Research: Qualitative experiences and perceptions of overactive bladder treatment among women, caregivers, and healthcare professionals

Article Title: Perceptions of overactive bladder treatments among women, caregivers, and healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-synthesis

Article References: Roman, M. P., Mihu, D., Rus, D., Olaru, N. S., Mihu, C. M., Ciortea, R., Doumouchtsis, S. K., Roman, A., Bucuri, C. E., Ormindean, C. M., Suciu, V. E., Nati, I. D., & Măluțan, A. M. (2026). Perceptions of overactive bladder treatments among women, caregivers, and healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-synthesis. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 7, Article 1974337. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2026.1974337

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fgwh.2026.1974337

Keywords: overactive bladder, qualitative research, meta-synthesis, systematic review, women's health, patient-centered care, shared decision-making, treatment burden, therapeutic alliance, GRADE-CERQual, thematic synthesis, urology