Improved quality of life in women treated for urinary incontinence by an authorised continence nurse practitioner

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of conservative therapy for women with urinary incontinence by an authorised Continence Nurse Practitioner (CNP) on quality of life (QoL) measured by a validated questionnaire and to correlate simple analogue scores with the QoL domains. Pre- and post-treatment Kings Health Questionnaires (KHQ) and post-treatment analogue scores for "wetness" and "satisfaction" with treatment were sent to women managed by a CNP. We received 85 completed questionnaires (73.9% response rate). Two KHQ domains (Incontinence Impact and Emotions) showed a significant improvement after treatment. The analogue scores correlated moderately with the majority of KHQ domains. There is a positive effect of CNP treatment on QoL in women with urinary incontinence. Simple analogue scores are not sufficiently strongly correlated with KHQ domains to be a satisfactory substitute for validated QoL questionnaires.