The Effect of an Exercise Program for Preventing Urinary Incontinence among Community-Dwelling Elderly Females Living Alone

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a comprehensive exercise program for the prevention of urinary incontinence (UI), frailty, and depression, as well as the promotion of physical function in community-dwelling elderly female living alone. Methods: A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was employed. The participants were 76 vulnerable elderly female with a mild-to-moderate urinary incontinence. The exercise group completed 12 weeks of a moderate intensity, comprehensive exercise program. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests and ANCOVA were used for data analysis with SPSS. Results: Upon the completion of the 12-week exercise program, significant improvements for UI symptoms (p=.001), timed up and go (p<.001), frailty (p=.006), and depression (p<.001) were observed, but not for hand grip strength (p=.053). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that the 12-week comprehensive exercise program for the prevention of urinary incontinence had positive effects on improving UI symptoms, physical function, levels of frailty and depression in elderly women living alone. More prolonged exercise programs with other types of exercise should be developed for these vulnerable elderly women, and future studies are encouraged to confirm the effect of the comprehensive exercise program in other settings.