Targets, Messages, and Channels for Educational Interventions on Urinary Incontinence

Abstract

This article documents a collaborative health agency-university community demonstration project on urinary incontinence in older women. The basic program-research division of respon sibility was blurred substantially in this collaboration. The article focuses on a telephone survey of 321 elderly women conducted as part of a needs assessment, which also served as baseline data in the evaluation of a public education initiative. The survey provided information for defin ing target populations, shaping educational messages, and selecting communication channels. The prevalence of involuntary urine loss was 34%, with 20% of all women reporting weekly in continence. There were few differences by continence status in health, sociodemographic char acteristics, orbeliefs about incontinence. Women used many communication channels for health information and had a preference for information from health professionals. Factors that con tributed to the collaborative relationship included technical expertise, diversity of expertise and perspectives, and the enhancement of capacity in collaborators.