Assessing Women’s Knowledge and Practice Regarding Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Muscles Exercises

Background: Urinary incontinence is a serious problem that deteriorate women’s life at any age specially if neglected. However, there are many actions to solve this problem the most important is pelvic floor muscles exercises which is registered as an effective method for improving urinary function. Aim: The study aimed to evaluate women’s knowledge and practice regarding urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscles exercises. Study design: A descriptive design was used in this study. Setting: The study was conducted at outpatient clinics of Aga central hospital, Dakahlia Government, Egypt. Sample: A purposive sample technique was used to select 177 women. Tools: A structured interviewing questionnaire was used for data collection; It contained four parts: Part I: Women’s socio-demographic characteristics. Part II : women’s medical history. Part III: Women’s knowledge regarding urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscle exercises. Ⅳ: Women’s practice regarding pelvic floor muscle exercises. Results: The study results revealed that, 40.2% of women had poor level of knowledge about urinary incontinence and 64.1% of them had poor knowledge about pelvic floor muscles exercises. Regarding women practice about (kigel 60.2%, squat 87.4%, bridge 71.3%, tabletop 81.1%, bird-dog 66.7%) was unsatisfactory. Conclusions: Studied women have poor level of knowledge regarding urinary incontinence and pelvic floor exercises. Also, they had unsatisfied reported practice regarding pelvic floor muscles exercises for Kigel, squat, bridge, tabletop, and bird-dog exercises so an educational program for improving women’s knowledge and practice regarding urinary incontinence and pelvic floor exercises is recommended. Recommendations: This study recommended implementation of education programs to improve women’s knowledge, practice about urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscles exercises.