Knowledge and acceptance of Thai women toward the pelvic floor muscle training

Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is considered as an effective management for relieving pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and urinary incontinence (UI). Although the benefits of PFMT are known among the health care professionals, the benefits from PFMT among the Thai women are not known.

To evaluate the basic knowledge and acceptance of PFMT in women who visited the gynecologic out-patient clinic.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted by administering a brief anonymous 2-part questionnaire to 415 women who visited the gynecologic out-patient clinic at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between November 2010 and January 2011. A questionnaire, consisting of 24 questions, was divided into two parts where part one, made up of 10 questions, collected demographic data and the remaining 14 questions in part 2 gathered more information about the knowledge and acceptance towards PFMT. These questionnaires required approximately five minutes for completion.

Mean age of all women was 42.9 years. The percentage of patients having stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), and mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) were 21.9%, 5.3%, and 15.2%, respectively. Overactive bladder (OAB) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) were found in 19.5% and 9.9%, respectively. Half of the respondents were unaware of PFMT efficacy. Most of them (80.2%) never received instruction from their health care providers. However 52.8% of women expressed interest for requesting PFMT instruction while 84.6% were willing to practice if they were made aware of benefits.

A limited understanding and acceptance of PFMT exists among Thai women. However if informed, most women express interest in practicing PFMT after clinic visit.