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Biomedical subjects

Molly C Dougherty

Publications and source records attributed to Molly C Dougherty.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms among female elementary school teachers in Taipei.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among female elementary school teachers in Taipei. A total of 520 self-administered surveys were distributed to 26 elementary schools in Taipei City. Data analyses were based on 445 usable surveys. The prevalence rates for different types of LUTS ranged from 9.9 to 44.5%. The prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI; 26.7%) and nocturia (16.0%) fell within the prevalence estimates of these LUTS in North American and European women. Employed women in this study were more likely to experience LUTS than women in previous epidemiological or community studies. This study extended research on UI into other LUTS among employed women in Asia. Study results suggest that the working environment may affect LUTS in female elementary school teachers. This preliminary study is important for developing future behavioral interventions for female LUTS in the workplace.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Pelvic floor muscle training effect on urinary incontinence knowledge, attitudes, and severity: an experimental study.

This study of Taiwanese women investigated effects of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) on urinary incontinence (UI) severity and on participants' knowledge and attitudes regarding UI and PFMT. Of 114 participants in a 4-h PFMT program, 55 suffering from UI completed 2 questionnaires, 1 before and 1 after the program. Among them, 78% reported experiencing UI under increased abdominal pressure, and 82% had suffered the condition for more than 1 year. Participants achieved reductions in UI severity after PFMT; and the program produced a significant difference in their knowledge about, though not in their attitudes toward, both UI and PFMT.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Diabetes beliefs among low-income, white residents of a rural North Carolina community.

CONTEXT: Every social group shares beliefs about health and illness. Knowledge and understanding of these health beliefs are essential for education programs to address health promotion and illness prevention. PURPOSE: This analysis describes the diabetes Explanatory Models of Illness (EMs) of low-income, rural, white Southerners who have not been diagnosed with diabetes. METHOD: In-depth interviews were conducted with low-income white women (n = 19) and men (n = 20) aged 18 to 54 years who resided in a rural Southern town. The tape-recorded interviews were completed by trained interviewers and were transcribed verbatim. Computer-assisted text analysis was used, and all transcripts were coded by 2 investigators. FINDINGS: Although all the participants had heard of diabetes, their EMs were vague and undeveloped. Women were more knowledgeable than men were. Family and heredity were widely believed to be causes, with heredity including genetic and learned behavior components. Participants disagreed about the role of diet and weight in causing diabetes; exercise was not perceived as related to causation. Participants had knowledge of those symptoms, complications, and treatments that could be observed. CONCLUSIONS: These rural, white Southerners did not share well-developed EMs for diabetes, with most having a vague and incomplete understanding of this disease. The diabetes beliefs of these rural Southerners differ significantly from current medical knowledge. To be effective, culturally appropriate primary prevention programs must recognize these lay beliefs.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Self-monitoring and pelvic floor muscle exercises to treat urinary incontinence.

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common chronic condition among women. Treatment of UI can involve behavioral techniques, pharmacological strategies, or surgical intervention. Clinically, treatment strategies should start with the simplest and least invasive measures. To overcome the deficiencies in previous research and provide definitive information for clinical practice, a randomized clinical trial is currently underway. This clinical trial uses a pretest-posttest design to first determine the effectiveness of self-monitoring techniques before subjects are randomized into one of two treatment groups or an attentional control group with a 1-year followup. The study design, sampling plan, and interventions used in an ongoing clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of self-monitoring and efficacy of biofeedback to treat UI in women are described. Innovative techniques to assess adherence to the pelvic muscle exercise protocol are addressed.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Diabetes meanings among those without diabetes: explanatory models of immigrant Latinos in rural North Carolina.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing in the United States, particularly among minority individuals. Primary prevention programs for diabetes must be designed to address the beliefs of the populations they target. Little research has investigated the beliefs of those who do not have diabetes. This analysis uses in-depth interviews collected from Latino immigrants, not diagnosed with diabetes, living in a rural US community. Structured by the explanatory models [EM] of Illness framework, this analysis delineates the EMs of diabetes in this community. A significant number of the participants had little knowledge and few beliefs about diabetes. The EMs of those with knowledge of diabetes were varied, but several beliefs were widely held: (a) diabetes is a serious disease that is based on heredity or is inherent in all persons, (b) diabetes can result from several factors, including strong emotions and lifestyle characteristics (an unhealthy diet, not taking care of oneself), (c) beliefs about strong emotion and the importance of blood are related to diabetes causes, symptoms and treatment, and (d) a major and undesirable outcome of diabetes is weight loss. These results provide information for the design of health programs for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

International content of high-ranking nursing journals in the year 2000.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the extent of an international perspective in publication in nursing journals. DESIGN: Characteristics of 2,581 articles, authors of articles, and journals (editorial purpose and editorial team) of 42 high-ranking nursing journals for the year 2000 were analyzed. METHODS: The characteristics were assessed using seven operational definitions of "international." FINDINGS: Major findings were: (a) 747 (28.9%) articles were identified as international, of which (b) 705 (94.3%) were placed in the scholarly or empirical categories; (c) more articles were categorized as empirical in the international articles; more articles were categorized as scholarly among the noninternational articles; (d) 763 (79.3%) articles met an international definition based on author characteristics; and (e) 20 (47.6%) journals had international editorial teams. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly 30% of articles had international content. Articles with international content were more frequently databased than were noninternational articles. The study provides a baseline indication of the extent of international perspectives in published articles in nursing journals. The extent to which these international articles make substantial contributions to knowledge has yet to be discovered.

Authorship↗
PubMed2003

Incontinence impact, symptom distress and treatment-seeking behavior in women with involuntary urine loss in Southern Taiwan.

Urinary incontinence (UI) in women is common worldwide, but is studied more often in the West. This correlational study conducted in southern Taiwan employed two frequently used instruments, which were translated into Chinese. Incontinence impact, symptom distress, and treatment-seeking behavior were studied in 106 women with UI of whom 76 (72%) had not received UI treatment. Incontinence impact (mean=49.75; range=30-120) was significantly correlated (r=0.76, p<0.01) with symptom distress (mean=18.38; range=2-68). Women with high incontinence impact and symptom distress were more likely to seek treatment than those with lower impact and symptom distress.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2003

Analysis of interactive continence health information on the Web.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe interactive information about continence health promotion for women that is available on Web sites identified by popular search engines or health/medical search engines or that is available on community-based or select health organizations' Web sites. METHODS: We used a variety of search services to search the Web for sites that disseminated information about continence health for women, for example, urinary incontinence, urine loss, and bladder problems. Two reviewers initially evaluated sites to determine if an interactive feature that provided individualized feedback was present. Web sites that had an interactive-with-feedback feature were further examined to delineate the purpose of the site and other descriptive characteristics. We evaluated each site according to content pertaining to continence health information. RESULTS: Most major search engines located more than 100,000 Web sites in the initial search; narrowing the search terms with the words "and women" decreased the number of sites. Only 13 sites with interactive-with-feedback features were located for further evaluation. E-mail was the most common interactive feature; none of the sites contained comprehensive information on continence health promotion. CONCLUSIONS: Web sites exist and are informative in terms of continence health promotion, but they lack an emphasis on self-care and sufficient information to promote it. The functionality of computer technology and the Web has not been maximized for the purpose of delivering continence health information.

Female↗
PubMed2003

Bladder management in adult care homes. Review of a program in North Carolina.

In North Carolina there are approximately 34,000 residents in adult care homes (ACHs). Approximately 40% of these residents have urinary incontinence, and others require assistance with toileting. High prevalence of cognitive impairment, few licensed staff, and low staff-to-resident ratios in ACHs make behavioral techniques used in community-dwelling populations and toileting programs used in nursing homes inappropriate for these residents. This program was implemented using a two-level approach (facility and individual resident) and uses an education consultation approach for implementation.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2002

A randomized trial of behavioral management for continence with older rural women.

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a commonly underreported and underdiagnosed condition. The purpose of this trial was to implement and evaluate behavioral management for continence (BMC), an intervention to manage symptoms of UI with older rural women in their homes. Participants were randomized into BMC or a control group, and 178 were followed for between 6 and 24 months. The intervention involved self-monitoring, bladder training, and pelvic muscle exercise with biofeedback. The primary outcome variable-severity of urine loss-was evaluated by pad test. Secondary variables were episodes of urine loss, micturition frequency, voiding interval, quality of life, and subjective report of severity. Urine loss severity at baseline evaluation was not significantly different in the two groups. But using the generalized linear mixed model analysis, at the four follow-ups, severity of urine loss, episodes of urine loss, quality of life, and subjective report of severity were significantly different. At 2 years the BMC group UI severity decreased by 61%; the control group severity increased by 184%. Self-monitoring and bladder training accounted for most of the improvement. The results support the use of simple strategies based on bladder diaries before implementing more complex treatments.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Sociospatial knowledge networks: appraising community as place.

This article introduces a new theory of geographical analysis, sociospatial knowledge networks, for examining and understanding the spatial aspects of health knowledge (i.e., exactly where health beliefs and knowledge coincide with other support in the community). We present an overview of the theory of sociospatial knowledge networks and an example of how it is being used to guide an ongoing ethnographic study of health beliefs, knowledge, and knowledge networks in a rural community of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans at high risk for, but not diagnosed with, type 2 diabetes mellitus. We believe that the geographical approach to understanding health beliefs and knowledge and how people acquire health information presented here is one that could serve other communities and community health practitioners working to improve chronic disease outcomes in diverse local environments.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Development of a computer-based system for continence health promotion.

Computer-based systems (CBS) can provide information to help individuals analyze their health care needs and make decisions about management of health problems. This article discusses the development of a CBS that delivers an individualized educational intervention for continence health promotion. System development included cycles of prototype design, testing, analysis, and redesign. Knowledge acquisition, representation methods, and design decisions are discussed. Participants completed 4 rounds of usability testing and a pilot test, which resulted in enhancements to both the CBS and the expert system feature that produced individualized feedback. This iterative design process involved users throughout system development. User involvement resulted in a tutorial to explain navigation and other features of the CBS, graphics to enhance the written message, and clarification of continence-related content. The procedures resulted in an informative, usable product; they can be used to develop systems that provide information about symptom self-management for other health conditions.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Developing and validating a Chinese instrument to measure lower urinary tract symptoms among employed women in Taiwan.

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including urinary incontinence, negatively affect women's quality of life. Employed women are particularly prone to experiencing the negative aspects of LUTS due to their irregular access to toilet facilities. In Taiwan, about 70% of women 25-44 years of age are employed, yet little research on LUTS in the workplace has been conducted. In this article, the development of a Chinese instrument for estimating prevalence of LUTS and identifying factors related to LUTS among employed women is discussed. After instrument-generation and translations, content validity of the instrument was assessed and found to be satisfactory. Following a pilot test, psychometric testing of the instrument (which included test-retest reliability and internal consistency) was conducted. Test-retest reliability for the majority of the items and internal consistency for the construct LUTS were adequate. Based on initial psychometric testing, the authors suggest the instrument is appropriate for use with women in Taiwan. Additional testing is recommended before being used with other populations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Shaping future directions for incontinence research in aging adults: executive summary.

BACKGROUND: The Center for Gerontological Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, as part of the John A. Hartford Foundation's Geriatric Nursing Initiative, convened an invitational nursing research summit on incontinence in St. Paul, Minnesota on October 16-18, 2003. OBJECTIVE: To identify new approaches for conducting urinary and fecal incontinence research in aging adults, identify strategies for reinvigorating and better positioning nursing research on incontinence, and develop recommendations for attracting new nurse investigators to incontinence research and facilitating their research training and mentorship. METHOD: Forty-seven researchers, project officers, clinician leaders, doctoral students, and consumer advocates from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, and Australia attended a 1(1/2) day conference involving trigger talks, reaction papers, and small and large group discussions around broad thematic areas on incontinence research. Recommendations with suggested strategies were derived from the discussion groups. RESULTS: Participants identified issues related to each of the summit objectives and discussed potential strategies to overcome these challenges. Twenty-one recommendations were derived: eleven recommendations focused on new approaches to incontinence research; eight on reinvigorating and repositioning nursing research on incontinence; and two on attracting and mentoring new investigators. CONCLUSIONS: The summit model used effectively engaged an international cadre of researchers and clinicians in stimulating discussions that yielded the identification of strategic directions for conducting and funding incontinence research and strategies for reinvigorating and repositioning nursing research on incontinence.

Aged↗