Dear AUGS Membership,
In alignment with our mission to increase awareness in the US about pelvic floor disorders, I am soliciting potential interest from AUGS members in bringing an educational program about incontinence self-management to your local communities.
The program, “Mind Over Matter: Healthy Bowels, Healthy Bladder” (MOM) was developed by AUGS member Dr. Heidi Brown in partnership with organizations in her community that serve older adults and the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging (WIHA) (www.wihealthyaging.org/), which provides training and support to community organizations that implement evidence-based programs for older adults, including the MOM program.
In a randomized controlled trial published in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2019 (Small-Group, Community-Member Intervention for Urinary and Bowel Incontinence: A Randomized Controlled Trial - PubMed (nih.gov), the MOM program resulted in an 8 fold improvement in bladder incontinence and a 3 fold improvement in bowel incontinence among participants. The last session of the MOM program provides information regarding treatments other than behavioral modifications and resources for seeking further care and requesting referrals to Urogynecologists, including a list of local resources.
Local organizations that can implement MOM include healthcare systems, community organizations, senior centers, senior living communities, recreation centers, churches, libraries, and others. Because the program was designed in partnership with the organizations that disseminate and implement it, the MOM program is easy to adopt and maintain. The training to become a MOM facilitator (Bring MOM to Your Community (wihealthyaging.org) is only two days (versus 3-5 for other programs) and culminates with certification, licensure, and the necessary toolkit to offer the workshop in one’s own community. MOM is recognized as an evidence-based program by the National Council on Aging and the Administration for Community Living, which means that organizations can use Older Americans Act funds to pay for the MOM program. The feedback that has been received is overwhelmingly positive, but there is definitely initial hesitation by some groups because of the topic’s stigma and the lack of awareness by many about how prevalent incontinence is, especially in older women. We, as Urogynecologists, know how important this type of information is in order to facilitate women needing and wanting treatment.
I am sharing this information with you today to solicit interest from the AUGS membership about becoming a program champion and helping bring the MOM program to your community. As a MOM program champion, you would:
- Receive support from the AUGS-MOM team and WIHA to identify organizations in your community that might be interested in implementing MOM and assemble the list of local resources (such as pelvic floor physical therapists and urogynecologists in your area) you’d like to disseminate to program participants.
- Be invited to participate in quarterly AUGS-MOM virtual team meetings and an in-person meeting annually at PFD Week.
- Have the opportunity to participate in local and national evaluations of this effort as part of a grant application being submitted to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please take a minute to answer this quick survey.
There is also an information and discussion session this coming Wednesday evening, 6/16 at 5:30 pm central time.
Topic: AUGS MOM Champion Program Information Session
Time: Jun 16, 2021, 05:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/99794588150?pwd=RnJyQ3NWak1sS3BSQUVwMVo4ZUhiUT09
Meeting ID: 997 9458 8150
Passcode: 589092
One tap mobile:
13126266799,,99794588150#,,,,*589092# US (Chicago)
13017158592,,99794588150#,,,,*589092# US (Washington DC)
I look forward to understanding the interest and seeing the potential participation of AUGS members. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Be well,
Holly E. Richter, PhD, MD