The development and evaluation of an incontinence intervention program for the elderly women at elderly welfare...

The elderly with UI experienced urine leakage for a long time. The prevalence of UI has increased and it makes costly. Particularly, the elderly were reluctant to visit a hospital or a clinic for the reasons of modesty and poverty. To solve this problem, incontinence intervention programs should be provided at the elderly welfare center. The purpose of this research was to develop Incontinence Intervention Program for the Elderly Women (IIPE) and evaluate in its effect.

The study design was quasi-experimental with pre and post-test. The study was performed for ten weeks at one elderly welfare center, Seoul, Korea. The subjects were gathered through an official announcement and informed consent was obtained. IIPE, in this study, was consisted of diagnosis, education, exercise and evaluation. The study variables were PFM exercise adherence, pelvic muscle strength, Continence self-efficacy, geriatric depression and incontinence stress. The effects of the IIPE on PFM exercise adherence, pelvic muscle strength, Continence self-efficacy, geriatric depression and incontinence stress were also evaluated.

The mean age of the subjects was 75.2 years. The average attendance was 6.2 times. The IIPE improved PFM exercise adherence, intra-vaginal contraction power and CSE significantly. But it was not significant in incontinence stress and geriatric depression. Other important results were that the two-finger test and urine stream interruption were more useful for elderly women with rigid vaginas in teaching and evaluating.

The Findings suggest that IIPE is effective to the community-residing elderly. Further investigation is needed on a long-term basis with control group.