Retention Control Training

Description of the Strategy

Retention control training (RCT) is a daytime treatment procedure for nocturnal enuresis (i.e., bed-wetting) designed to increase functional bladder capacity (e.g., how much urine an individual can retain before voiding). Often described as an operant procedure, RCT involves encouraging increased fluid intake while reinforcing urine retention for successively longer periods of time. The procedure is based on findings that enuretic children urinate more frequently during the day, demonstrate strong urges to urinate at low bladder pressures, and possess functionally smaller bladder capacities than nonenuretic children. RCT attempts to modify this lack of bladder control by instructing enuretics to systematically refrain from urination under increasing bladder dilation cues.

RCT typically commences following an initial baseline assessment. Common baseline measures employed ...