Grant: Summer Program in Aging

Individuals with urinary incontinence (UI) experience accidental leaks of urine over time, resulting in physical, social, emotional, and financial consequences. Sufferers may isolate themselves, avoid social engagements and sports activities, experience sex problems, become depressed, and need medical assistance or nursing care. Every year, governments, individuals, and employers in Canada and the U.S. spend billions on this issue. Despite being common in older men, it has received less attention than in older women. Although this could be because older men are half as likely to suffer from UI, rates of the condition seem to rise more steadily with advancing age in men than in women. This problem will be addressed using the self-help approach, which has been successful in treating chronic conditions like UI by involving patients in identifying and resolving health concerns. Since older adults are more likely to experience the negative effects of UI medications, self-help is even more crucial. Together with a patient advisory group and a panel of doctors, we will develop a self-help tool. We will gather information about those factors that predispose older men to the problem of UI, which can be corrected by the patients themselves. Our intervention will be based on the evidence, patients' perspectives, and doctors' input. In order to make it available to as many men as possible, our self-help intervention will be presented as a mobile application. With this medium, users will be reminded to perform the tasks that will yield the desired results. It will help users identify personal risk factors contributing to UI, before presenting strategies or tasks for modifying those risk factors, so that desired outcomes, such as improved symptom control and improved UI-related quality of life may be achieved. Furthermore, it will provide individual progress reports on task performance and measurable outcomes, as well as data for research and continuous improvement.