Faculty of Health Sciences Projects (Master's)

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Browsing Faculty of Health Sciences Projects (Master's) by Author "Price, Jessica Lynn"

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    Pelvic health fitness and education: a six-week fitness program for incontinence knowledge and prevention
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2022) Price, Jessica Lynn; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Koso, Silvia
    Urinary incontinence (UI) is associated with devastating consequences and is highly prevalent in women. Conservative measures can effectively prevent and treat UI, although women have little knowledge about these treatments. Practice guidelines for the treatment of UI advocate for the increased education of women on UI and its treatments as well as promoting conservative efforts in community settings. Nurse-led educational efforts are effective and costeffective methods of addressing UI. Nurses are in an excellent position to provide UI education in community settings. Advancing pelvic health nursing in the community will increase access to care and promote the prevention and treatment of UI. This program combines pelvic health education and fitness to be administered in community fitness facilities. The curriculum is designed to increase women’s knowledge about urinary incontinence and its treatments, increase self-efficacy to manage urinary incontinence and decrease the stigma associated with it. This program has been guided by Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy to increase women’s capacity to self-manage their pelvic health. The program was adapted due to fitness instructor staffing shortages and the education portion of the program was implemented on its own as a pelvic health seminar for women. Evaluation of the program was completed using a paper or online survey before, immediately after, and at one-month after the seminar. There was a statistically significant increase in women’s knowledge of pelvic health and a decrease in stigma associated with UI immediately after the program. This was maintained at the one-month evaluation. Verbal feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive showing women appreciated having the ability to access health education of this nature in more community settings where they can bypass needing to see their physician or a specialist practitioner. This program fills a noted gap in the literature advancing nursing practice in pelvic health. It also answers the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) call to action to increase UI education for women provided in community settings. Having nurses provide increased education and access to care is vital to maintaining efficiency in our healthcare system and will relieve long waitlists for specialty practitioners.