Editorial March 2025

We are delighted to present the first edition of the Australian and New Zealand Continence Journal since transferring to CSIRO Publishing. It has been exciting to see such informative articles populating the journal’s new website, and we look forward to continued growth throughout 2025. While this change presents a new look and direction, we remain dedicated to providing a consistent service that meets the needs of our researchers and readers. Articles are now more visible and rapidly available online after acceptance, with our model remaining entirely Diamond Open Access, with no cost to authors or readers. Each article is linked to an individual DOI number to assist with referencing and tracking, and accepted submissions will be listed across an increasing number of online databases. The end result is that our journal now stands out even more amongst the crowd, and we are confident that it has become a very attractive outlet for the submission and publication of high-quality works from across the global continence research community.

If you are a first-time author, our reviewing and editorial teams work to provide experienced feedback and support to assist on the track to a successful peer-reviewed publication. Performing research not only helps our community with increased knowledge and insights, but also advances the missions of Continence Health Australia (formerly the Continence Foundation of Australia) and Continence NZ to promote bladder and bowel health and eliminate the stigma and restrictions of all aspects of incontinence. Please reach out to us publishing.cj@csiro.au if you have any queries or questions about the publication process.

We present four excellent papers in this edition. In the first paper, Kyaw et al.¹ outline the treatment and outcomes from five women who developed genital fistulae after prolonged use of vaginal prolapse pessaries. The study included women who had been fitted with vaginal prolapse pessaries in Australian health care clinics and highlights the importance of follow-up after vaginal pessary use for pelvic organ prolapse. Our editorial committee would like to draw attention to the importance of having these regular follow-ups, which can not only address the risk of this complication, but ideally, prevent it from ever occurring. The second article by Lakhan et al.² evaluates the perceived usefulness of brochures provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with urinary incontinence. This study helps to inform whether the selected brochures were a valuable resource in primary healthcare settings, and provides insights into the use of this educational medium. Trauma-informed management of patients with prior sexual trauma in pelvic health physiotherapy clinical practice by Stirling et al.³ reviews the literature, alongside clinical experiences and an expanded case example, surrounding this important area. Finally, a case study by ER Watson⁴ outlines the introduction of UroShield® in district nursing with a small group of patients who are receiving care for a long-term indwelling urinary catheter. I am confident that these articles will be of great interest to our community.