Graduation Year
2020
Document Type
Senior Thesis
Degree
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Primary Major
Nursing
Thesis Advisor
Patricia Harris, PhD, RN, CNS
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Stress urinary incontinence, an involuntary loss of urine during physical exertion or effort, affects a disproportionately large number of women worldwide. Although pelvic floor muscle training is the first-line treatment for urinary incontinence, long term adherence is low, and therefore, is usually not an effective treatment. Medications may be costly and aren’t always effective; surgery is invasive and often not appropriate. This condition warrants further studies to find more effective solutions.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether or not focused electromagnetic field therapy is more effective than pelvic floor muscle training in treating stress urinary continence in women.
PROPOSAL FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: This will be a two-arm, randomized, longitudinal, quantitative clinical trial with women who have stress urinary incontinence. Surveys will be created to analyze the severity and frequency of stress urinary incontinence. Two random groups will follow either a pelvic floor muscle training therapy or an electromagnetic field therapy over the course of one year; analysis via the survey will be performed before therapy, at 6 months, and at the end of therapy (1 year), with a follow up analysis at 3 and 5 years after therapy was initiated. Four hundred fifty participants will be recruited from gynecologists and support groups within the Bay Area of Northern California for this proposed study.