Knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and self-reported practice concerning urinary incontinence in nursing home care.

BACKGROUND: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent problem in aging adults and is associated with significant psychosocial, physical, and economic consequences. In order to improve continence care, it is important to understand nurses' knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about UI. This study examined the relationship between knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and continence-related practice.

METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used to gather self-reported data from 315 nurses and nursing assistants.

INSTRUMENT: Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of 3 parts: (1) the Knowledge and Practice Instrument, (2) the German version of Henderson's Attitude and Belief Scale, and (3) demographic data.

RESULTS: Results demonstrate that knowledge and attitude are related to practice. In contrast, beliefs showed no relation to either practice, or to knowledge, or to attitudes. The practice subscales, which can best be influenced by knowledge and behavioral attitude, are "assessment and information" and "drinking habit and excretion."

CONCLUSIONS: It is worth making an effort to increase nurses' knowledge about UI assessment via continuing education. In addition, nurses' and nursing assistants' attitudes can be positively influenced by cooperation with advanced practice geriatric nurses.