OBJECTIVE

To assess parental beliefs about the causes, treatment, and necessity for medical assistance for children with nocturnal enuresis (NE).

METHOD

A self-administered survey questioned parents' beliefs about NE, including causes and at-home behavioral therapy. We evaluated the association between demographic characteristics and the tendency to seek medical advice for NE.

RESULT

The questionnaire received responses from 1232 individuals, 77.1% of whom were female and 82.9% of whom were 30 years of age or older. Psychological issues (53.5%) and laziness to get up (47.6%) were the most often believed causes of NE. Two frequent at-home behavioral therapies chosen by participants were voiding before bedtime and restricting fluid intake at night (73.4% and 70%, respectively). However, only 6.9% of respondents believe that a bedwetting alarm is an effective treatment. The two most frequently reported reasons for not seeking medical attention were parents' belief that their child will eventually outgrow bedwetting (34.1%) and "parents or children's embarrassment" (21.8%). The chi-squared test was used to evaluate the association between demographic characteristics and seeking medical advice. Participants with a single child were more likely than those with more than three children to take their child to the doctor (61.5% vs. 48.6%, respectively). Also, parents who don't have NE-afflicted children were more open to consider seeking medical advice for NE therapy (if their children developed it in the future) compared to parents who already have children with NE.

CONCLUSION

Parents in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia hold various misconceptions about the causes and treatment of NE. Only 52.1% of parents would take their child to see a doctor if wetting the bed and only 48.1% of parents were aware of effective treatments for NE. These results emphasize that healthcare practitioners need to provide proper information to raise public awareness of NE.