Understanding the relationships between pregnancy, childbirth and incontinence

• Author / Creator

  Prendergast, Susan

• The purpose of this thesis was to explore the relationships between pregnancy, childbirth and incontinence (both urinary and faecal) and the effect of preventive activities during pregnancy on continence. Two papers comprise this thesis. The first paper, a scoping review, focused on examination of how pregnancy and childbirth affect continence in nulliparous women. Several key considerations were identified from the published literature that we suggest are crucial to understanding these relationships. The second paper, a systematic review, is focused on the effect of preventive measures during pregnancy on continence. Pelvic floor muscle training was found to be effective in reducing the incidence of incontinence at 3 months postpartum. Few studies met our inclusion criteria thus limiting analysis of data. Based on these two papers, further prospective research is suggested. The final chapter of this thesis outlines a developing PhD project that addresses gaps identified through the scoping and systematic reviews.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Labour
  • Prevention
  • Pelvic floor muscle training
  • Childbirth
  • Pregnancy
  • Faecal incontinence
  • Incontinence
  • Urinary incontinence
  • Birth
  • Perineal massage

• Graduation date

  Fall 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Nursing

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3T69S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.