The Effects of prompted Voiding Therapy on Urinary Incontinence Control of Elderly Patients

Lee, Kyung Ja; Kim, Mi Kyung; Song, Hee Young

Abstract

This study was done to analyze the effects of prompted voiding therapy on urinary incontinence in elderly patients in an elderly care hospital. Specifically, this study looks to evaluate the effects of prompted voiding as an intervention for improving independent voiding and also identified the relationship of urinary continence to cognitive, emotional, and physical factors. The study was based on a pre-experimental design used to evaluate the effects of prompted voiding therapy on an experimental group without a control group. An experimental group of 143 patients was selected through convenience sampling from patients in an elderly care hospital. The data was collected from November 4 to December 14, 1996. Prompted voiding therapy is a behavioral therapy for managing incontinence and it is applied to patients who are cognitively impaired and dependent. In this study, the patients were asked at each designated time whether or not they had to urinate. If they answered yes, they were either given a bedpan or were assisted to the bathroom, and if the patient answered no, their diaper was checked to determine whether or not it was wet. The results were then recorded on the patients urinary voiding record. The urinary voiding score based on the model presented by Burton(1984), Burke and Walsh(1992), Chenitz, Stone and Salisbury(1991 was modified and used as a tool in this study. After forty six out of the total of 143 patients were selected for interviews through random sampling the levels of cognitive functions, mental depression and ADL(activities of daily life) within the given time frame were measured. In this study, the cognitive function was measured using the scale developed by Kabhn, Goldfarb, Pollack and Peck(1960), elderly mental depression, using the tool developed by Sheikh and Yesavage(1986), and the ADL(activities of daily living, through the Barthel Index. The data was analyzed through SPSS windows for descriptive statistics, repeated measured ANOVA and Pearson's correlation. According to the results of the study, the application of the prompted voiding therapy can improve the voiding pattern of patients. It was shown especially that incontinence could be controlled by the intervention developed according to the individual voiding pattern. In terms of the relationship between cognitive function, mental depression and ADL and the voiding function score, a close correlation was not found. It was shown that urinary incontinence can be improved through therapy even though patients have problems with their cognitive, mental and physical functions.