Knowledge and attitudes about urinary incontinence among community-dwelling Korean American women

The purpose of this study was to explore knowledge and attitudes about urinary incontinence (UI) among Korean American women with incontinence and provide initial information needed to design education programs and culture-specific interventions.

One hundred eighty-two community-dwelling Korean American women who were 30 years and older and self-identified as having UI were invited to participate in the study. Data collection was conducted in 12 Korean religious organizations.

This study uses a cross-sectional descriptive design by means of interviews.

The Incontinence Quiz was used to measure knowledge and attitudes about UI. Higher scores indicate greater knowledge and more positive attitudes.

The mean Incontinence Quiz was 4.85 (SD = 2.75) out of 14, which was much lower than the midpoint of 7.0, indicating that respondents tended to have limited knowledge and negative attitudes toward UI. The number of correct responses to the items on the Incontinence Quiz in this sample was lower than that reported in other studies that sampled the general population.

Interventions to improve Korean women's knowledge of, and attitudes toward, UI are needed. WOC and continence nurses should take an active role in educating women about the prevention and treatment of UI.