A three-year program of intensive, multidisciplinary, mentored training and research in urology is proposed. This training will support the applicant's long-term career goal of functioning as an independent, productive clinical investigator whose work focuses on design and testing of behavioral interventions for urinary incontinence (UI) in older men. Mentors for this award are Dr. Ruth McCorkle (Yale University School of Nursing) and Dr. Ken Cummings (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey). The proposed research and training environments are: 1) Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; 2) Cancer Institute of New Jersey; 3) Gallo Prostate Cancer Center; and 4) Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Training activities will consist of didactic course work, participation in clinical and research conferences/seminars in urology and prostate cancer, guided readings, and mentored clinical and research training in the use of standard and innovative measures of urologic function and behavioral interventions for UI. Guided by the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms, a pilot randomized controlled trial will also be conducted to examine the effect of pelvic muscle exercise (PME) training on pelvic muscle strength, a modifiable physiologic factor, in men at risk of persistent UI following radical prostatectomy. PME training will be provided during the early post-operative period through usual care vs. basic vs. enhanced instructional approaches. Secondary goals of the study are to explore pelvic muscle strength, a physiologic factor, self-efficacy, a psychologic factor, and social support, a situational factor, apropos of their relationships with the post-prostatectomy urinary symptom experience and impact on performance of the individual. Scientific presentations and publications will be prepared to disseminate results of this study. At the conclusion of the award period, a proposal will be submitted to the National Institutes of Health for a full scale randomized controlled trial of PME training in the same population.
| Robinson, Joanne P; Burrell, Sherry A; Avi-Itzhak, Tamara et al. (2012) Validity testing of the stopwatch urine stream interruption test in radical prostatectomy patients. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs 39:545-51 |
