Predictors of help seeking among Korean American women with urinary incontinence

The purpose of this study was to test an adapted theoretical model to predict help-seeking behavior (HSB) for urinary incontinence (UI) among Korean American women.

A sample of 149 Korean American women with UI was recruited from local religious organizations in Arizona.

This study uses a cross-sectional correlation descriptive design.

Respondents completed 7 instruments: the HSB, Brief Acculturating Rating Scale of Korean American-II, family tradition and authority orientation, incontinence quiz, incontinence severity index, incontinence-specific quality of life (QOL), and social support tool. Respondents either completed questionnaires or they were administered face to face. Descriptive statistics, standardized Cronbach α coefficients, factor analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression were used to analyze data.

Thirty-six percent of variance in HSB was explained by severity of UI, incontinence-specific QOL, and social support in the proposed theoretical framework. Health care support facilitates help seeking among Korean American women who have severe UI symptoms and low UI-specific QOL. Social support from friends, family, and available information facilitates help seeking in this group.

WOC and continence nurses should take an active role to design intervention for Korean American women with UI emphasizing on social support from family and friends and available information in Korean.