URINARY-INCONTINENCE KNOWLEDGE AMONG COMMUNITY-DWELLING PEOPLE 65 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER

OBJECTIVES: We determined elderly persons' knowledge about the epidemi ology and treatment of urinary incontinence (UI) as part of a preinter vention survey for the Educational Demonstration of Urinary Continence Assessment and Treatment for the Elderly (EDUCATE). DESIGN: An intact -group pretest-posttest design was employed to measure the effects of multimethod educational interventions on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physicians and older people concerning UI. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of community-dwelling people aged 65 years and older from two counties in Massachusetts was selected (n = 1,140). MEASUREME NT: A 14-item urinary incontinence quiz was developed from information presented in the AHCPR UI Guideline Panel's recommendations, Particip ant answers to the quiz were part of a 20-minute telephone interview. RESULTS: For nine of the fact items, the elderly respondents were more likely to give the correct answer than the incorrect answer. However, for only four of those nine did the percentage of correct responses e xceed 50% (there were substantial proportions of ''don't know'' respon ses). For several fact items, those who were younger, female, or had m ore formal education were more likely to provide correct responses. CO NCLUSIONS: There are substantial gaps in the knowledge of older person s about urinary incontinence, especially among men, those age 85 and o lder, and those with lower levels of education. These knowledge gaps m ay contribute to misinterpretation of symptoms and underreporting of s ymptoms to health care professionals. This pattern of findings indicat es a greater need for community education on urinary incontinence.