| Description |
Urge urinary incontinence (UUI) disproportionately affects older women and adversely affects health related quality of life. Current medications have dangerous side effects in the older adult population, including falls and confusion. Older adult women with UUI are not sufficiently treated with current practices. There were three aims to this research. 1) To determine the research feasibility of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and the health enhancement program (HEP) in older adult women presenting with UUI, measured by recruitment, retention, and treatment fidelity. 2) To determine the intervention feasibility of an RCT comparing MBSR and HEP in older adult women presenting with UUI, measured by acceptability, tolerability, and treatment adherence. Finally, there was an exploratory aim 3) to evaluate short term preliminary efficacy of MBSR for treatment of UUI in older adult women, in comparison to HEP, measured by symptom severity, symptom bother, perceived stress, perceived self-efficacy, and the trajectory of change. Twenty-five postmenopausal women were recruited. Interested women were screened and subsequently enrolled, then randomized into one of two therapeutic (nonsurgical, nonpharmacological) approaches. They completed an 8-week intervention, remaining blinded to condition. A wide scope of feasibility determinants were examined-research: recruitment, retention, and treatment fidelity; intervention: acceptability, tolerability, and treatment adherence. All were successfully met. Additionally, severity, bother, perceived stress, perceived self-efficacy, and the rate and trajectory of change were examined in the exploratory aim. Participants saw significant improvement in all five areas. This study supports prior research suggesting potential efficacy of MBSR and elements of HEP in treating UUI in older adult women. Study findings contribute to our understanding of the complex condition of UUI in an older, more vulnerable and underrepresented population. These study findings support the merit of future research in larger scale and/or multisite trials. In addition, development and evaluation of a combined MBSR and HEP therapy to address UUI in older adult women is hypothesized to produce higher efficacy across study domains, and merits further study. |
