Coping Strategies with Stress Urinary Incontinence among Menopausal Women

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the most prevalent urinary problem among menopausal women. It has a negative physical and psychological impact on women’s quality of life. Consequently Menopausal women with SUI tend to adopt negative or positive coping strategies to improve their quality of life. Objective: Identify coping strategies among menopausal women with urinary stress incontinence. Setting: Urinary incontinence clinic of Main University Hospital Alexandria Regional Center for Women's Health and Development. Subjects: A convenience sample of 200 menopausal women with stress urinary incontinence were recruited in this study. Tools: Three tools were used; I: Basic Data Structured Interview Schedule, II: Urinary Incontinence Interview Schedule: PRAFABQuestionnaire, and III: Revised Jalowiec Coping Scale. Results: One half of study subject( 50%) seldomly used any coping strategies, The self-reliant coping strategy was the most used one while emotive coping strategy was the least used one. Conclusion: Women use problem based coping strategies (Evasive and confronting) in an attempt to positively cop with health problem. Recommendations: Gynecological nurses are advised to attend workshops about the psychological impact of stress incontinence among menopausal women consequently they would be able to gear them towards the appropriate coping strategies.