Hsc2016

Unit 4222-224 Support individuals to manage continence
(HSC 2016)
Assessment Criteria

Outcome 1 Understand factors that affect the management of continence
The learner can:

1. explain how difficulties with continence can affect an individual’s self esteem, health and their day to day activities

Incontinence can affect you mentally as well as physically. The negative effect on your self-esteem, dignity and independence can lead to restrict employment, educational and leisure opportunities, and lead to social embarrassment, isolation, distress and depression. According to continence nurses, as many as 70% of people with incontinence are affected by depressive illnesses. It is vital that people who are incontinent are given every opportunity to regain their continence.   Individuals may avoid getting treatment for incontinence because they are too embarrassed to discuss their problem. It can severely restrict their social life and contact with others. Having had an embarrassing, humiliating experience of an ‘accident’ in public they live in constant fear of it happening again. Many people will stop going out because of this fear. It is also one of the reasons many individuals come into care because either they or their carer’s are unable to cope with their incontinence. Individuals may be inclined to reduce their intake of liquids or food to alleviate their incontinence but this can result in their urine becoming concentrated, which in turn can irritate the bladder and cause a greater sense of urgency or result in infection or inflammation. This can also cause constipation, which in turn can weaken the pelvic floor muscles through straining to pass a constipated stool.

2. list common causes of difficulties with continence

There are different types of incontinence and different causes

Urinary incontinence

Overactive bladder – bladder contractions cause bladder to think it is full when it is not

  * Parkinsons disease and stroke affect the...