Nurse Faculty Perception, Knowledge, and Management of Urinary Incontinence

Introduction: The role of nurse educators is to provide theoretical knowledge of topics, such as urinary incontinence (UI), and guide students during clinical experiences. A study of associate degree nursing students demonstrates the impact of nurses educators lack of knowledge concerning UI by the students low scores on the UI Practice Scale (Aronovitch, 2014). The results of the students’ Practice Scale raise the question of whether faculty teaching UI are knowledgeable or if their perceptions of UI impact how nursing students are taught.

Purpose:  This study was designed to determine nurse educators’ knowledge of UI and their perceptions (beliefs and attitudes). A second component of the study looks at the impact of their perception on practice.

Methods: A convenience sample of nurse educators was obtained using a nursing education listserve and Excelsior College’s School of Nursing adjunct faculty. The Urinary Incontinence Scales (Henderson, 1999) and demographic data were administered using Qualtrics.

Results: Forty nurse educators participated in the online survey, though not every respondent completed all components of the study.  The mean score for Beliefs was 69.06 (SD 9.49) of 138 points and the Attitude Scale score was 61.06 (SD 5.41) of 120 points.  The nurse educators scored 18.47 (SD 8.21) of 35 points on the Knowledge Scale reporting the primary resource (50%) for maintaining currency is through textbooks.  The mean score for the Actions Scale was 56 (SD 19.36) of 75 points.   The Pearson Correlation between the Belief and Practice Scales (r=.251, p=.198) and Attitude and Practice Scales (r=.133, p=.469) were not significant at the .05 level.

Conclusion: Nurse educators in this study did not score high in either the Knowledge or Action Scales for UI. It is possible the lack of current clinical practice can be impacting the nurse educators’ ability in being proficient in managing UI.