REHABILITATION OF URINARY INCONTINENT NURSING HOME PATIENTS (INCONTINENCE, BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT).
Contributors: University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 119
Subjects: Education, Educational Psychology.; Psychology, Behavioral.; Psychology, Clinical.
Description: This research investigated the cost and efficacy of a urinary continence rehabilitation program for nursing home patients. A participative staff management approach was employed using existing direct care staff to implement a behavioral approach which employees contingency management.

Patient data including historical, pharmacological, medical, uyrodynamic, psychological, and functional assessments were used for the differential diagnosis of the patient's type of incontinence and the appropriateness for their participation in this study. In addition, predictor variables, developed from these assessments were used to help identify reliable patient characteristics which correlate with treatment success.

Twelve nursing home patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Direct caregivers assigned to the treatment and control groups received special training in their respective experimental procedures. Additionally, patients in the treatment group received a prompted-voiding checking and changing procedure every two hours, social praise for responding and continence, and withdrawal of social praise for not responding and incontinence. Patients in the control group received the special training and a checking and changing procedures. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to measure changes in target continence behaviors (i.e., decrease in percent wet or increase in percent dry, increase in patients' correct discrimination between continence and incontinence, and an increase in patients' independent requests for toileting assistance).

This research showed that a behavioral treatment using contingency management was effective when compared to a control procedure and previous research. In addition, the cost of this procedure was comparable to that reported in previous research and was not a prohibitive factor for treatment implementation. Moreover, the participative staff management system employed showed that the treatment was practicle and could be implemented with existing direct care staff.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: A, page: 4261.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE, 1992.

School code: 0263.