Practitioner's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices towards urinary incontinence.
Anika C Janse van Vuuren, Jacobus A van Rensburg, Susan Hanekom
PMID 37415853WHAT IT FOUND
Most primary care practitioners in the Western Cape did not routinely screen women for urinary incontinence.
They rarely used bladder diaries and almost never referred patients to physiotherapists, despite knowing pelvic floor muscle training is an initial treatment option.
Key findings
01Only 25% of healthcare practitioners routinely screened female patients for urinary incontinence.
02Bladder diaries were rarely used by healthcare practitioners, with 68.1% of those not using them stating they were unfamiliar with the tool.
03Referrals for urinary incontinence were predominantly to gynaecologists, urogynaecologists and urologists, with only 14.3% of referrals going to physiotherapists.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (56 participants) and response rates could not be determined. Data were predominantly from urban areas and the Cape Town metropole, limiting generalisability to rural areas or the wider Western Cape. The questionnaire was not validated for reliability. Snowball sampling was used due to COVID-19 restrictions, which may introduce selection bias. Facility demographics were based on participants' perceptions rather than manager reports.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that low physiotherapy referrals are due to a lack of knowledge about pelvic floor muscle training as a treatment. Most practitioners knew it was an option, but they still referred to medical specialists. The barrier appears to be a lack of awareness of the physiotherapist's specific role in management, not the treatment itself.