Predictors and profiles of non-invasive management of urinary incontinence in residents living in nursing homes: A decision tree analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics and capabilities of nursing home residents with urinary incontinence in relation to urinary incontinence interventions.Materials and methods: A secondary data-analysis on the data from 1417 residents (65 years and above), suffering from urinary incontinence and living in nursing homes and collected by a cross-sectional multi-center point prevalence measurement, the Dutch annual independent (Inter)national Prevalence Measurement of Quality of Care of Maastricht University, was performed. In order to explore the relationship between an urinary incon-tinence intervention and the predictors diagnosis dementia, body posture, mobility, (un)dressing, hygiene and communication; onset urinary incontinence; frequency, time of loss and quantity urinary incontinence and fecal incontinence, a Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) analysis was performed.Results: The level of care dependency for hygiene is the key variable in predicting the use of an urinary incon-tinence intervention. The ability to adopt an appropriate body posture, being urinary incontinence prior to admission into a nursing home and being diagnosed with dementia are identified as significant predictors. Residents care independent for hygiene and for adopting an appropriate body posture and urinary incontinence before admission into a nursing home are more likely to use absorbing material. In residents being care dependent for hygiene and for adopting an appropriate body posture and diagnosed with dementia, a combi-nation of absorbing material with toileting or other interventions are mostly applied.Conclusions: Results reveal that residents' characteristics and capabilities determine the implementation of an urinary incontinence intervention.