Comparison of the effect of SMS with face to face training on performance of Kegel Exercise in middle-aged women

Middle aged people, a large and productive group of the community whichare deprived from many services because of focusing on high-risk groups such as children, need strong support to comprehensively enhance their quality of life. This study was performed with aim to investigate the effect of SMS and face to face training on doing Kegel exercises in the middle-aged women.
This clinical trial study was performed on 100 middle-aged women in 2016. 47 cases received SMS and 46 face to face trainings for 4 weeks. At first, one session was held about the purpose of the study and the role of Kegel exercise in the prevention of pelvic muscle relaxation and urinary incontinence for women in both groups. Two training sessions were held for face to face training group as once in two weeks for 45 minutes, and for women in SMS training group, the same educational content was sent in the form of SMS as twice a week. After the completion of the trainings, a one-month opportunity was given to them to perform pelvic floor exercises. During this time, the case group was contacted twice a month to answer the questions, and to ensure they receive text messages requested of them to send blank SMS. After the specified time, both groups were contacted to answer about the frequency, duration and causes of failure to do exercises. Data analysis was done using statistical software SPSS (version 22) and independent t-test and Chi-square test. P There was no statistically significant difference between two groups in terms of doing Kegel exercises (P=0.75) and its frequency (P=0.25). Two main obstacles in doing exercises in both groups were: amnesia (29.8% in SMS training group and 38.4% in individual training) and not having enough time to do exercises (21.3% in SMS training group and 19.6% in individual training), respectively.
There was no statistically significant difference between two groups in terms of doing Kegel exercises and its frequencies, and using SMS training can be as effective as face to face training in offering middle-age trainings.