Methods of Coping with Factors Affecting Urinary Incontinence Awareness and Frequency in Elderly Patients with Urinary Incontinence

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the awareness and frequency of urinary incontinence in elderly patients and the methods of coping with urinary incontinence. Methods: This study, which was conducted in accordance with cross-sectional, was conducted between April and August 2019 with 350 elderly people aged 65 and over living in the Central District of Siirt province. The data of the research were collected using "Personal Information Form". Number, percentage, variance and t test were used to evaluate the obtained data. Results: The average age of the elderly participating in the study was 74.8 +/- 9.4. In this research, 50.6% of the elderly were male and 49.4% were female 6.0% of the elderly have knowledge about the exercises to prevent urinary incontinence and 2.0% of them are performing these exercises. The median number of urination per day of the elderly was 10. 38.6% of the elderly missed urine while coughing or sneezing, 79.7% missed urine during daily activities, 43.7% shared it with their relatives when the first urinary incontinence problem, 42.3% went to the doctor, 14% of them stated that they did nothing. According to the factors preventing the acceptance as a health problem, the sub-dimension of coping with urinary incontinence, the sub-dimensions of restriction and fear of urinary incontinence of urinary incontinence awareness scale men's mean scores were found to be higher than women's (P <.001). It was determined that the mean scores of the health motivation sub-dimension of the urinary incontinence awareness scale of the single elderly were higher than the married ones (P <.001). Conclusion: In this study, it was found that urinary incontinence was common in the elderly and they used individual methods to cope with incontinence.