Stress incontinence as a valid nursing diagnosis has remained clinically untested since its approval as a nursing diagnosis in 1986. No defining characteristics of stress incontinence have been clinically identified or validated. The Stress Urge Incontinence Instrument was developed to assist nurses to differentiate between two nursing diagnoses: stress incontinence and urge incontinence. Findings from two clinical studies validate the presence of stress incontinence in a population of community-dwelling older women and provide an initial list of clinically identified and validated defining characteristics present in women with the confirmed medical diagnosis of stress incontinence.