Creation and testing of the Geriatric Self-Efficacy Index for Urinary Incontinence.
OBJECTIVE
To report on the content development, construct validity, and reliability testing of the Geriatric Self-Efficacy Index for Urinary Incontinence (GSE-UI).


METHODS
Prospective cohort study.


METHODS
Six UI outpatient clinics in Quebec, Canada.


METHODS
Community-dwelling incontinent men and women aged 65 and older.


METHODS
Thirty-eight items were generated using a literature search and interdisciplinary panel of experts. Item reduction was achieved through field-testing with 75 older men and women with UI attending an information session. The final 20-item draft, measuring older adults' level of confidence in preventing urine loss, was administered to a new group of consecutive patients 1 week before and at the time of their first visit to the UI clinic to enable evaluation of test-retest reliability. A 3-day voiding diary, quantifying the frequency of UI, and the Incontinence Quality of Life questionnaire were used to test construct validity.


RESULTS
One hundred sixteen of 300 eligible patients (39%) participated (mean age+/-standard deviation 74+/-6, range 65-87). The GSE-UI items showed normal distributions and no ceiling effects. Self-efficacy scores ranged from 16 to 193 (mean 104+/-41, possible range 0-200) and correlated positively with quality of life scores (r=0.7, P<.001) and negatively with UI severity (r=-0.4, P<.001). Internal consistency for the GSE-UI was 0.94 (Cronbach alpha). Initial test-retest reliability of the 20 items using intraclass correlations ranged from 0.50 to 0.86.


CONCLUSIONS
The GSE-UI will enable measurement of whether a person's confidence in their ability to prevent urine loss is an important mechanism contributing to improvements in UI.
Tannenbaum
Cara
C
Centre de Reserche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. cara.tannenbaum@umontreal.ca
Brouillette
Judith
J
Korner-Bitensky
Nicol
N
Dumoulin
Chantale
C
Corcos
Jacques
J
Tu
Le Mai
le M
Lemieux
Marie-Claude
MC
Ouellet
Stephane
S
Valiquette
Luc
L
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*