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Exploring literature on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices towards urinary incontinence management: a scoping review

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Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

Urinary incontinence affects women of all ages, influencing 8.5% of the world’s population in 2018. Effective management of urinary incontinence is influenced by patients help-seeking behaviour and services offered by healthcare professionals within the healthcare system. To facilitate behavioural change, it is important to understand the knowledge(Knowledge: “the comprehension and understanding of acquired facts or information about UI in adults”), attitudes (Attitude: “a predisposed perspective which influences nurses’ thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behaviours towards care of adults with UI”) and beliefs (Beliefs: “a theoretically conceptualized conviction or expectation regarding UI in general”) of healthcare practitioners towards urinary incontinence management. The aim of this review is thus to systematically map the existing literature, reporting on how knowledge, attitude, belief and practices towards urinary incontinence management have been explored.

Methods

Six databases were systematically searched. Included studies were published between January 2013 to January 2020 in English, investigating urinary incontinence management in women.

Results

The search yielded 39 studies, with data emanating from 16 counties. Quantitative, Qualitative and mixed methodologies were used to explore the four concepts of knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices. A wide range of healthcare practitioners were questioned and management was explored in five healthcare settings. All factors explored related to the four concepts are reported and factors reaching consensus in included literature were highlighted.

Conclusion

The summarized factors can assist further investigations into the four concepts to change healthcare practitioner’s behaviour towards urinary incontinence management.

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Notes

  1. Practice: “actions identified in the AHCPR guideline (Urinary Incontinence Panel, 1992; Fantl et al., 1996) as being within the capability and scope of registered nurses of all educational levels” [53].

  2. Knowledge: “the comprehension and understanding of acquired facts or information about UI in adults” [53].

  3. Attitude: “a predisposed perspective which influences nurses’ thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and behaviours towards care of adults with UI” [53].

  4. Beliefs: “a theoretically conceptualized conviction or expectation regarding UI in general” [53].

Abbreviations

GP:

General practitioner

HCP:

Healthcare practitioners

HRQOL:

Health-related quality of life

MUI:

Mixed urinary incontinence

NICE:

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

PFD:

Pelvic floor dysfunction

SUI:

Stress urinary incontinence

UI:

Urinary incontinence

UUI:

Urge urinary incontinence

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Funding

This scoping review was self-funded by the primary investigator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Anika Janse van Vuuren

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Urogynaecology Unit, Tygerberg Hospital, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    J. A. van Rensburg

  3. Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Lonese Jacobs & Susan Hanekom

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  1. Anika Janse van Vuuren
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  2. J. A. van Rensburg
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  3. Lonese Jacobs
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  4. Susan Hanekom
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Contributions

Anika Janse van Vuuren: project development, data collection, data analysis, manuscript writing and editing; Susan Hanekom: project development, manuscript editing; J.A. van Rensburg and Lonese Jacobs: project development.

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Correspondence to Anika Janse van Vuuren.

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Appendix

Appendix

Web of Science search:

Search limits:

Time: January 2013 to January 2020

Table 9 Detailed Web of Science Database search
Full size table

Language: English

The same process was repeated in each database. Thereafter, applicable study duplicates between databases were removed.

Table 10 A checklist of factors to explore regarding the knowledge, attitude and beliefs of healthcare practitioners (HCPs) towards urinary incontinence (UI) management
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Fig. 3
figure 3

A bar graph demonstrating the global distribution of studies carried out according to study type

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Fig. 4
figure 4

A pie chart demonstrating the distribution of healthcare practitioners included across studies

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van Vuuren, A.J., van Rensburg, J.A., Jacobs, L. et al. Exploring literature on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices towards urinary incontinence management: a scoping review. Int Urogynecol J 32, 485–499 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-020-04628-3

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