Sebastiaan van der Storm

70 Chapter 3 RESULTS A total of 1868 patients who met the inclusion criteria completed the web-based survey; 1692 via closed invitation (response rate 40%), and 198 via open invitation (estimated response rate 19%) Thirteen patients with a pouch but without a stoma were excluded from the analysis. The baseline characteristics are summarised in Table 1. Most patients were male (n=1011, 54.1%), had a colostomy (n=983, 56.3%) and had an operation indication related to a malignant disease (n=1116, 59.7%). The mean age was 67.5 years. Most patients had a stoma for at least five years (n=1141, 61.1%). The most frequently reported physical and psychosocial problems were leakages, skin issues, stomal hernias, fear of leakages, sexual problems, and insecurity (Figure 1, 2). As expected, stoma nurses were the main source of information and stoma-related questions. Stoma nurses were mainly contacted regarding stoma materials (47.0%), leakage (42.6%), and skin problems (37.0%). Table 1: Baseline characteristics Variable Total n= 1868 Gender: Male Female 1011 (54.1%) 857 (45.9%) Age 67.5 (11.6) Nationality Dutch Other 1837 (98.3%) 31 (1.7%) Level of education Low Medium High 824 (44.1%) 325 (17.4%) 719 (38.5%) Family situation Single without children Single with children With partner and with children With partner without children Other 240 (12.8%) 152 (8.1%) 636 (34.0%) 818 (43.8%) 27 (1.4%) Quality of life Bad Moderate Good Very good Excellent 34 (1.8%) 302 (16.2%) 970 (51.9%) 426 (22.8%) 137 (7.3%) Stoma type Colostomy Ileostomy Urostomy Other 983 (56.3%) 461 (26.5%) 300 (17.2%) 124 (6.6%)

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