Individual and Dyadic Planning as Correlates of Pelvic-floor Training: a Study With Prostate Cancer Patients

Abstract

Radical prostatectomy, a standard treatment for prostate cancer, is often associated with sequelae including urinary incontinence. To control incontinence, regular pelvic floor exercise (PFE) is recommended. Individual and dyadic planning and their potential reciprocal relations were investigated as predictors of adoption and maintenance of regular PFE. In contrast to individual planning, dyadic planning refers to creating plans together with a partner on when, where, and how the individual target person will implement a new behavior. A total of 209 prostate-cancer patients participated in a study with 4 post-surgery assessments, each 2 months apart. Individual and dyadic planning, PFE, and incontinence were assessed by self-reports. Results from autoregressive models revealed sequential effects of both planning strategies on PFE while controlling for incontinence. Individual planning was related with increases in PFE at T2 whereas dyadic planning was associated with increases in PFE at T3. Findings indicated that individual planning seemed to be more important for adoption and early maintenance PFE, whereas dyadic planning seemed more important for medium-term maintenance of PFE.