The relationships among physical activity, knowledge, comorbidity and quality of life in patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy
Abstract:
This study was descriptive correlational research which aimed at investigating the relationship between selected factors of physical activity, knowledge, and co-morbidity and quality of life in patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy. The population of the study consisted of 88 patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy via laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, whose postoperative duration was longer than three months, who were aged 35 years old or older, who had not been treated with radiotherapy, and who did not suffer from disability, paresis, or paralysis that affected urination. Data collection took place at the outpatient urological clinic and special urological clinic (after-office-hours clinic) at Siriraj Hospital. The study period was from February to May, 2013. Data were then analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and median. Also, Pearsons product-moment correlation coefficient was employed to determine the relationships among the study variables. The study findings showed that the overall quality of life for those with urinary incontinence was equal to 88.80% (SD=10.63). As regards the quality of life of patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy, the subjects had a quality of life in the psychosocial impacts dimension with the mean of 93.24% (SD=10.11), followed by the social embarrassment dimension at the mean of 89.94% (SD=13.14), and the avoidance and limiting behavior dimension with the mean of 83.09% (SD=14.69), the subjects levels of energy exertion in physical activities ranged from 52.36 to 293.91 MET hours/week (Mean=125.67, SD=51.28). More than half of the subjects, or 58%, had a moderate level of knowledge about urinary incontinence. More than two-thirds of the subjects, or 69.3%, had a low level of comorbidities, and the study findings revealed that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between knowledge and quality of life of patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy (r = -0.215, p < 0.05). Based on the finding of this study, after the patients have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and require surgery, nursing care plans should be devised so as to provide knowledge simultaneously with pelvic floor muscle exercises before the surgery, and there should be periodical monitoring and follow-ups. This is because all of these steps are considerably important to enable patients to have a smooth transition to ensure good quality of life when they return home.