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

© 2015 Chinese Nursing Association.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 who have scarce resources for urinary incontinence management and treatment. Urinary incontinence self-management education approaches have potential for widespread implementation in nursing practice.

Text-messaging as a Tool for Medication Adherence and Behavior Change in Disease Management among Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Background: Evidence-based medication and lifestyle modification are important for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease but are underutilized. Mobile health strategies could address this gap but existing evidence is mixed. Therefore, we piloted a pre-post study to assess the impact of patient-directed text messages as a means of improving medication adherence and modifying major health risk behaviors among coronary heart disease (CHD) patients in Hainan, China.

Methods: 92 CVD patients were surveyed between June and August 2015 (before the intervention) and then between October and December 2015 (after 12 week intervention) about (a) medication use (b) smoking status,(c) fruit and vegetable consumption, and (d) physical activity uptake. Acceptability of text-messaging intervention was assessed at follow-up. Descriptive statistics, along with paired comparisons between the pre and post outcomes were conducted using both parametric (t-test) and non-parametric (Wilcoxon signed rank test) methods.

Results: The number of respondents at follow-up was 82 (89% retention rate). Significant improvements were observed for medication adherence (P<0.001) and for the number of cigarettes smoked per day (P=.022). However there was no change in the number of smokers who quitted smoking at follow-up. There were insignificant changes for physical activity (P=0.91) and fruit and vegetable consumption.