Factors associated with treatment-seeking behavior for postpartum urinary incontinence.

Purpose: To identify the factors associated with treatment-seeking behavior for urinary incontinence (UI) among postpartum women.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 142 women with postpartum UI responded a telephone interview between August of 2010 and March of 2011. The association between the treatment-seeking and the predicting variables were measured through odds ratio and 95% confidence interval.

Results: The treatment-seeking percentage was 37.3% and the treatment percentage was 27.5%. The result of multiple logistic regressions indicated that: counseling about UI in pregnancy, postpartum physical exercise, and Spanish nationality predicted 47.8% of the variance in treatment-seeking behavior

Conclusions: The lack of counseling largely determines the low rates of treatment-seeking among Spanish mothers.

Clinical Relevance: Nursing counseling during pregnancy can contribute substantially to increasing the number of women treated for postpartum UI.