Evaluating Patient Learning After An Educational Program For Women With Incontinence And Pelvic Organ Prolapse

UroToday - Pelvic floor disorders such as incontinence and prolapse are common bothersome conditions that can be initially and successfully addressed with conservative patient-initiated methods such as pelvic floor muscle and bladder retraining exercises. Women need to be well informed regarding these treatment options. Unfortunately, previous research shows that many women do not have the necessary knowledge to initiate treatments for optimal pelvic floor health.


Our goal was to study an educational intervention enabling women to improve their pelvic floor health. We examined immediate and three-month impact on women's knowledge, behavioural changes and condition-specific quality of life.


Our 2.5-hour educational workshop is run by a nurse continence advisor and is advertised to the general public and to patients at our urogynecology clinic. Topics covered in the workshop include normal anatomy and physiology, incidence, prevalence and symptoms of common pelvic floor disorders and treatment options. Options discussed include the sustained practice of pelvic floor muscle exercises (PFME), bladder training and urge control techniques, diet and fluid intake modification, smoking cessation and body weight control. Pessary use, medications and surgery are briefly mentioned as options if initial conservative methods fail.


One hundred twenty five women consented to participate, provided demographic data and completed a symptom and behaviour questionnaire, a focused knowledge questionnaire, the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire - Short Form 7 (PFIQ-7) and the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory - Short Form 20 (PFDI-20) prior to the workshop. Immediately after the workshop women again completed the focused knowledge questionnaire. The follow-up packages, mailed at three months following each workshop, included the same pre-workshop questionnaires without repeating demographic data.


Participant response rate for questionnaire completion at 3 months was 83% (104 women). All women who participated in the study had various pelvic floor symptoms. We showed significant improvement in knowledge scores immediately post-workshop (p