Table 2.

Focus Groups Preliminary Themes and Representative Quotes

Preliminary Themes	Quotes
English Speaking Group
Shame/Silence
Lack of knowledge of the prevalence of POP	“I didn't know that it happened to women”
Embarrassed to speak with others	“It is not something you'd share with people because it is a humiliating thing”
Humiliation	“My OBGYN said, `Wow, no one would ever have mistaken the fact that you've had kids'…it was humiliating to me.”
Feeling like less of a woman, unnatural	“I feel like a freak of nature. This is so unattractive. This is so unsexy.”
Fear
Cancer	“Maybe I have cancer because I am bleeding”
Infection	“Now that I have this prolapse, I get more infections”
Odor	“It smelled so bad as if it was rotting”
Discomfort
Difficult to cope with POP	“I was just so uncomfortable with myself because I felt I had something there that doesn't belong”
Spanish Speaking Group
Shame/Silence
Lack of knowledge of the prevalence of POP	“I went to the bathroom and I felt myself and I didn't know what it was and I was scared”
Embarrassed to speak with others	“I wouldn't tell anyone because I was embarrassed”
Humiliation	“When you sit down there is a sound like air that happens and it's embarrassing. You feel horrible.”
Feeling like less of a woman, unnatural	“I had a disaster inside, my bladder, uterus, and intestines had fallen”
Fear
Cancer	“I was scared for my children that this would be cancer”
Infection	“I got a cream but it wouldn't help and I got like an infection and itching”
Odor	“I felt something ugly like rotten. It was the odor.”
Discomfort
Difficult to cope with POP	“There's a lot of depression, because your social life ends…everything ends”