Urinary incontinence is a significant negative health factor estimated to affect one in 10 men and one in three women over the age 55 years.
The aims of the proposed research incontinence in elderly people. The long-term objective is to expand knowledge about the effectiveness of noninvasive strategies for diagnoses and management of actual and potential urinary incontinence in elderly persons. A comprehensive literature review revealed no reports of investigations of potential, rather than actual, urinary incontinence, nor preventive treatments. The three specific research questions are: (a) What were the characteristics of the subject concerning such confounding variables as age, gender, medications, and edical diagnoses?, (b) Are the risk factors prognostic of state of continence?, and (c) Were there effects following the noninvasive strategies? The proposed study is a split group design in which observations before, during, and after treatment are used as the main controls. The subjects will be split into two groups. A baseline continence history will be obtained from each subject. During the next 12 months one group of subjects will receive treatment, the other group will be observed, thus serving as a control to reveal any changes occurring over time. During the following 12 months the control group will receive treatments, the treated group will be observed, thus serving as a control to reveal any changes occurring over time. During the following 12 months the control group will receive treatments, the treated group will be observed to determine if there is extinction of their treatment practices and/or effects. Subjects will be classified as to their state of continence based upon their baseline continence history. The dependent variable is the diagnosis, the independent variables are the noninvasive treatment strategies which include environmental features, liquid intake, pelvic floor exercises, regular toileting, verbal recognition of effort or successes, and dietary recommendations.
