Background: Urinary incontinence (UI) is the debilitating condition with impact on physical and psychological aspect of life with consequent effect on the Quality of Life (QoL). Aim of the study was to determine the effect of Urinary Incontinence (UI) on quality of life and self-esteem of postmenopausal women. A descriptive design was adopted to fulfill the aim of this study. The study was conducted at obstetric & gynecological outpatient clinic and Urological outpatient clinic at Benha University Hospital. A purposive sample of 75 postmenopausal women who had complain of UI attending gynaecological outpatient clinic and Urological outpatient clinic. Data were collected through three main tools Structured interviewing questionnaire sheet, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale and Incontinence-related Quality of Life (I-QOL). The study results showed that there were positive statistically significant correlation between total self-esteem and total Incontinence- Related Quality of Life. Also there is no significant relation between Incontinence-Related Quality of Life and items of socio- demographic characteristics (age, occupation, and source of income). While there were significant relation between Incontinence-related quality of life and (marital status, and educational level). Based on the result of this study it was concluded that UI symptoms directly affect HRQoL, which subsequently impacts negatively on self-esteem .The present study recommended that continuous assessment for all QOL domains for incontinent women should be a part of the nursing care. Further research is required to improve our understanding of psychological and economic impact of this condition. |
