The Effects of the U-Care Program on Caregivers’ Infection Prevention Practices and the Incidence of Urinary Tract Infections among Patients with Indwelling Urinary Catheters

Abstract

Caregivers’ practices play a critical role in preventing infections and reducing infection incidence among patients with indwelling urinary catheters. This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the impact of the U-Care Program on caregivers’ preventive practices and the incidence of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in patients with indwelling catheters. The participants were home-based caregivers of patients with indwelling urinary catheters. A total of 60 caregivers were allocated into an experimental group (n=30), which received the U-Care Program for three months, and a control group (n=30), which received standard care. Data were collected using a caregiver practice questionnaire for UTI prevention, with a reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) of .91. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, a Mann–Whitney U test, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test, a Chi-square test, and a Fisher’s exact test. The results showed that after implementing the program, the experimental group had significantly higher overall mean scores for preventive practices than both their baseline scores and the control group. Furthermore, the incidence of UTIs in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group, with an infection rate of 3.33% or .37 episodes per 1,000 catheter-days. These findings suggest that the U-Care Program is effective in improving caregivers’ preventive practices and reducing the incidence of UTIs among patients with indwelling urinary catheters.