Funding outcome

Urinary Incontinence (UI) and Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) are two of the most common Pelvic Floor Disorders (PFD) affecting the quality of life of millions of women worldwide. Although a variety of treatments are available for these conditions, women are failing to seek help and lack of knowledge has been identified as a major barrier. Studies in the United States found that the knowledge deficits are greater among non-white women as compared to white women. Since Canada is ethnically diverse, we aim to assess and compare UI and POP knowledge among newly arrived female immigrants and women born in Canada. Our target group is immigrant women over 18, which will be compared to Canadian women over 18. A broad age group was chosen, because despite PFD being most common among parous and post-menopausal women, evaluating the knowledge level of all women is important to create comprehensive and inclusive health policies. We also know there are preventative measures that can be taken to prevent the development of PFD. We hypothesize that immigrant women are less knowledgeable about UI and POP than women born in Canada, therefore warranting the development of a public health program addressing better accessibility to care for pelvic floor disorders in that population. We will conduct a cross-sectional written survey to assess the knowledge of UI and POP in Edmontonian women. The PIKQ (prolapse and incontinence knowledge questionnaire) will be administered to female immigrants attending the Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative. This data will be compared with Canadian born women recruited from the colposcopy clinic at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women. Participants will also complete a brief demographic survey to assess for confounding factors. We plan to recruit 100 participants in each group based on our sample sizes calculation