Group Medical Visits for Latina Women With Urgency Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence, though its effects can be personally devastating, exists most often as a quality of life issue. As such, partnering with the patient toward shared medical decision making is of the utmost importance. Research suggests that Latina women with pelvic floor disorders are overwhelmed by the amount and speed of information presented by healthcare providers and respond by placing healthcare decisions within the hands of the provider.

Group medical visits have demonstrated improved quality of life, improved healthcare self-efficacy and closed outcomes gaps in low income groups. We propose a mixed methods study to compare group medical visits (GMVs) to usual care for Spanish speaking Latinas presenting to gynecology clinics at LAC+USC. The study will consist of a randomized control trial of GMVs compared to usual care. In addition we will hold focus group for participants of the GMV arm to gain insight into the patient experience of GMVs and how to improve the visits. The primary outcome will be improvement in urgency urinary incontinence symptoms as measured by the OABq SF. Additionally, changes in quality of life and healthcare self-efficacy will be measured before and after the intervention.