Abstract

VIANA, Rui et al. Physiotherapy in self-esteem of women with urinary incontinence: a longitudinal study. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.169-178. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/14psd150114.

Self-esteem is one of the psychological variables most studied by researchers and it has been assuming a great importance in the people’s life experience, in the several life contexts. Urinary incontinence (UI) in women constitutes a public health problem, with a high prevalence that may involve repercussions on the self-esteem. Aim: Investigate the effects of physiotherapy in self-esteem of women with UI. Methods: The sample consisted in 157 women with stress UI (ranging from 18-80 years), divided into physiotherapy intervention group (n=100), that followed a 12-week of pelvic physiotherapy program and a control group (n=57) that received the routine clinical follow-up. Before each intervention and after 12 weeks, we evaluated the self-esteem by the Rosenberg’s Global Self-Esteem Scale. Participants signed the consent approved by the Hospital São João Ethics Committee, Porto, Portugal. Results: We found that the pelvic physiotherapy program raised the self-esteem levels on the women (p<0,001). Conclusion: We can conclude that the physiotherapy intervention revealed beneficial effects on self-esteem. The implications of these results are discussed, and the relevance of the application of different methodologies in positive Psychology in women with UI is emphasized.

Keywords : Self-Esteem; Women; Urinary Incontinence; Physiotherapy.

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