Continence

Continence is the term used to describe the ability to control the loss of urine or faeces. We learn to do this from an early age. Incontinence, is a persons inability to control the leakage of urine or faeces. It can become socially embarassing, presenting problems with hygiene.

Women of all ages can experience involuntary loss of urine when stress or pressure is placed on the pelvic floor. Studies have revealed that on average 8% of women between 15-64 years and 15%-30% of women over 65 years have this problem, due to a weakening of pelvic floor muscle tone.

In 2001 a grant was provided to Women's Heath Victoria by the Federal Government's Department of Health and Aged Care as part of the National Continence Management strategy. Our pilot project, called 'Strengthen your Inside' was concerned with raising awareness of continence related issues and preventing 'stress incontinence' in young women by promoting regular use of pelvic floor exercises (PFE).

As part of the project a pamphlet and poster were developed.

The project report Strengthen your inside! young women and the importance of the pelvic floor written by Sarah Brown, Christine Ferlazzo and Vicki Tsianakas outlines the scope of the project, a review of the literature, how the project was conducted, findings and some recommendations for the future.

An executive summary is available here . Full report (PDF 550KB) here.

Copies of the pamphlet and poster are also available by phoning Women's Health Victoria on 9662 3755 or by email whv@whv.org.au.

A new information resource is the Clearinghouse Connector - Continence

Go to specific health issues introductory page.