CONTINENCE ORGANIZATIONS WORLDWIDE NEWS

Report of the Continence Promotion Committee Workshop “Evaluating Continence Promotion” held at the International Continence Society

meeting in Sydney, Australia on October 17, 1995.

What is Continence Promotion?

Continence promotion principles, based on criteria provided by the World Health Organization, are that living, working, and recreation environments limit or enhance the extent to which people can make health choices and that their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors ultimately affect these health choices. Seen in this light, continence promotion is not just the imparting of ‘wisdom’ from a health professional to an individual.

Many organizations are now involved in continence promotion programs such as help lines, awareness weeks, media campaigns, and production of educational literature. Proper planning, implementation, and evaluation of these programs is essential to determine whether the goals of the program have been reached and to help plan future strategies. This strengthens an organization’s ability to attract funding for future programs, especially since most organizations operate on tight budgets.

The workshop featured three speakers who spoke in some depth about their organizations and how they monitor, manage, and evaluate health promotion activ- ities ranging from awareness weeks to paidlunpaid advertising. All speakers agreed that the principles of health promotion were the same no matter the size of the organization or the budget allowed and that successful campaigns changed the health behaviors of people.

Several steps were essential in the successful promotion of continence pro- grams, planning, implementation, evaluation, arid sustainability .

1. Planning: 0 Identifying a specific issue, target group, and focus for the program and

0 Good programs only target small sub-sections of the population with one

0 Appropriate information gathering 0 Designing the program 0 Market research: what is needed, what will work 0 Developing the program 0 Using focus groups (small market research groups of 5 to 10 individuals)

prioritizing them for the program

health message at a time

to test ideas 2. Implementation:

0 Ensuring quality implementation of the program 0 Enlist known personalities that will appeal to the target audience 0 Following up additional opportunities 0 Develop a theme, rhyme, message 0 Effectively documenting and communicating the program’s progress

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3. Evaluation: 0 Developing an evaluation plan

Develop performance indicators Purpose Select tools Determine methodology How/who will conduct Focus groups

0 Assessing the program’s results 0 Communicating the evaluating results and recommendations

0 Assessing the value of continuing the program, i.e. changed behavior,

0 Marketing the program so others can use it (hopefully at great profit to

0 Establishing structures which help others to apply the program

To conclude, the three key components to running an effective promotion program are changing attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. Effective programs are on-going and tailored for specific sub-groups of the population such as male/female, young/old. Programs cannot target everyone at the same time with the same message. Finally, effective and constant evaluation is an essential part of the process.

4. Sustainability:

improved health status

your organization)

Continence Promotion News

The Continence Promotion Committee met recently in Orlando, Florida to plan the 1997 workshops to be held in Japan on “Continence Prevention” and “The Use of the CONTInet.” The committee is comprised of: Mrs. Christine Norton, co-chair, continence nurse, UK Dr. David Fonda, co chair, geriatrician, Australia Mrs. Cheryle Gartley, consumer representative, USA Mr. Peter Lim, urologist, Singapore Dr. Linda Brubaker, gynecologist, USA If you are interested in contributing to this committee or its workshops, please contact either Christine Norton (fax + .44.17.1.404.6876) or David Fonda (fax + 61.3.9276.6280). The Continence Promotion Committee will produce a major report of its activ- ities for the ICS meeting in August 1996. The Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates will hold its Fourth Nursing Conference in February 1998. For more information contact: fax + 1 (609) 589.7463. The Medizinische Gesellschaft fur Inkontinenzhilfe Osterreich (Austria) recently had its 5th birthday and started its first post graduate course for nurses. Help for Incontinent People (HIP) has changed its name to National Association for Continence (NAFC). Contributions for this news page are to be sent to: The Continence Foundation of Australia, 59 Victoria Parade, Collingwood 3066, Victoria, Australia, +61.3.9415.10.16.

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