Toilet Training Adults With LDs
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Toileting assessment and toilet training for adults with learning disabilities with incontinence
IRAS ID
280249
Contact name
Janet Finlayson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Glasgow Caledonian University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
A recent review of incontinence in children and adults with learning disabilities has recommended that incontinence assessment and treatment should be offered routinely to all those with learning disabilities and incontinence. Incontinence refers to a person’s lack of control over urination or defecation. Incontinence is common in adults with learning disabilities. About one-third of adults with learning disabilities experience urinary incontinence; around 60% of whom also experience faecal incontinence. It is commonly understood that people, due to the nature of their learning disabilities, experience developmental delay in toilet training, whereby incontinence can persist into adulthood. Behavioural toilet training which encourages prompted voiding (urination or defecation), with the use of toilet alarms (worn as a watch on the person’s wrist, or as a discrete sensor in their underwear) as prompts, is recommended for people with learning disabilities, but there is a lack of current research on behavioural toilet training for adults with learning disabilities, which is needed to inform best evidence-based practise. The aim of this research study is to assess the toileting needs and issues of thirty adults with learning disabilities with incontinence, and determine whether a home-based 12-week individually tailored behavioural toilet training intervention, with the use of toilet alarms, promotes continence. Importantly, a positive behaviour approach will encompass each individual’s toilet training plan, and the two key outcome measures over the 12-week period will be 1) instances of successful voiding in a toilet, and 2) instances of incontinence. (An increase in 1 and decrease in 2 will show the intervention to be effective). Compliance and usability of the intervention will also be investigated via interviews with participants, who will be supported by their supporters (relatives or support workers).
REC name
Scotland A: Adults with Incapacity only
REC reference
20/SS/0034
Date of REC Opinion
22 May 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion