Continence training needs assessment of residential long-term care personal support workers

Urinary incontinence (UI) and fecal incontinence (FI) are embarrassing and debilitating conditions that are becoming collectively a major, growing health concern for men and women of all ages worldwide. In terms of academic study, interest and understanding, fecal incontinence (FI) is the poor cousin of the incontinence twins.

Recent research from the Canadian Continence Foundation (CCF) has shown that professional caregivers in long-term facilities (nursing homes) were not confident in their skills to care for FI residents.

In keeping with CCF’s constant drive to encourage access to treatment and education, the organization conducted this long-term care residential-based, qualitative study in Ontario Canada to identify gaps in the knowledge of professional care-givers in long-term care facilities to inform educators and administrators the need for in-service training curricula so that those with FI can live a better quality of life and their care-givers can feel more confident in their provision of care.