AIM: To explore the mediating effect of bother of urinary incontinence between urinary incontinence severity and help-seeking intentions and detect whether the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-UI Short Form could be a valid measure to delineate bothersome urinary incontinence.
BACKGROUND: Urinary incontinence is a common condition among women, which has a profound adverse effect on quality of life. However, many of them experiencing significant clinical symptoms do not seek medical help.
DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey design.
METHODS: Women with urinary incontinence (N = 620) from three randomized selected community health service centres from May-October 2011 participated in the study. Data were collected using a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. Multivariate regression models were used to test the role of bother as a mediator in the relation between urinary incontinence severity and help-seeking intentions. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to find the best cut-off International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-UI Short Form score (range: 0-21) to delineate the bother of urinary incontinence.
RESULTS: Bothersome urinary incontinence mediated the relationship between urinary incontinence severity and help-seeking intentions. Age and duration of urine leakage had a negative association on help-seeking intentions, while educational level and previous help-seeking behaviours had a positive association.
CONCLUSIONS: Bother was a mediator in the relation between urinary incontinence severity and help-seeking intentions. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-UI Short Form was a discriminative measure to delineate the bothersome urinary incontinence.
Written by:
Xu D, Wang X, Li J, Wang K. Are you the author?
School of Nursing, Shandong University, Jinan, China; School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Reference: J Adv Nurs. 2014 Sep 12. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/jan.12514
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25212267