The effect of a urinary incontinence self-management program for older women in South Korea: A pilot study

Background: Although self-management approaches have shown strong evidence of positive outcomes for urinary incontinence prevention and management, few programs have been developed for Korean rural communities. Objectives: This pilot study aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate a urinary incontinence self-management program for community-dwelling women aged 55 and older with urinary incontinence in rural South Korea. Methods: This study used a one-group pre-post-test design to measure the effects of the intervention using standardized urinary incontinence symptom, knowledge, and attitude measures. Seventeen community-dwelling older women completed weekly 90-min group sessions for 5 weeks. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests and were used to analyze data. Results: The mean of the overall interference on daily life from urine leakage (pre-test: M = 5.76 +/- 2.68, post-test: M = 2.29 +/- 1.93, t = -4.609, p < 0.001) and the sum of International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire scores (pre-test: M = 11.59 +/- 3.00, post-test: M = 5.29 +/- 3.02, t = -5.881, p < 0.001) indicated significant improvement after the intervention. Improvement was also noted on the mean knowledge (pre-test: M = 19.07 +/- 3.34, post-test: M = 23.15 +/- 2.60, t = 7.550, p < 0.001) and attitude scores (pre-test: M = 2.64 +/- 0.19, post-test: M = 3.08 +/- 0.41, t = 5.150, p < 0.001). Weekly assignments were completed 82.4% of the time. Participants showed a high satisfaction level (M = 26.82 +/- 1.74, range 22-28) with the group program. Conclusions: Implementation of a urinary incontinence self-management program was accompanied by improved outcomes for Korean older women living in rural communities