Individual and Dyadic Planning Predicting Pelvic Floor Exercise Among Prostate Cancer Survivors

Radical prostatectomy, a standard treatment for localized prostate cancer, is often followed by a recommendation to initiate and maintain pelvic floor exercise (PFE), to control postsurgery urinary incontinence.

Previous studies showed that planning facilitated the uptake and maintenance of a new behavior Whereas individual planning addresses the setting of plans by 1 person, dyadic planning refers to creating plans together with a partner on when, where, and how the individual target person will perform a behavior Individual and dyadic planning of PFE, their development over time, and their associations with PFE were investigated

In a correlational study, 175 prostate-cancer patients provided data at 1, 3, 5, and 7 months following the onset of incontinence Individual planning of PFE by patients and dyadic planning of PFE between patients and their partners, PFE, and incontinence were assessed by patients' self-reports

Two-level models with repeated assessments nested in individuals revealed stable levels of individual planning of PFE over time in patients with higher incontinence severity, whereas patients with receding incontinence showed decreases Independent of incontinence severity, a curvilinear increase followed by a decrease of dyadic planning of PFE across time emerged Sequential associations of both planning strategies with PFE were found Whereas individual planning was steadily associated with PFE, associations between dyadic planning and PFE were nonsignificant in the beginning, but increased over time

Findings point to the importance of individual planning for the adoption and maintenance of PFE, with dyadic planning being relevant for PFE maintenance only (PsycINFO Database Record

Rehabilitation psychology 2015 Jul 06 [Epub ahead of print]

Jan Keller, Silke Burkert, Amelie U Wiedemann, Aleksandra Luszczynska, Mark Schrader, Nina Knoll

PubMed