{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,21]],"date-time":"2026-03-21T01:20:48Z","timestamp":1774056048336,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,30]],"date-time":"2023-11-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701302400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Urinary Incontinence (UI) has numerous repercussions in women\u2019s lives, and it is underreported\/underdiagnosed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>The present study aimed to understand: (1) the differences between women with and without urine loss regarding Quality of Life (QoL) and Sexual Function (SF); (2) the possible moderation role of UI-related beliefs and strategies on the relationship between UI-symptom severity and SF and QoL, in women with UI.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Cross-sectional Design. Participants: Primary aim: Overall, 2,578 women aged 40\u201365 (<jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic><jats:sub>age<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u200949.94, <jats:italic>DP<\/jats:italic><jats:sub>age<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u20096.76) were collected online. Secondary aim: 1,538 women who self-reported having urine loss occasionally\/frequently (<jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic><jats:sub>age<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u200950.19, <jats:italic>DP<\/jats:italic><jats:sub>age<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u20096.58). All data analyses were done with IBM SPSS Statistics and R statistical system 4.0 through RStudio. Statistical Path analysis was performed with the lavaan package to study the hypothetical association and moderating effects between the variables.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Primary aim: women without UI had a better SF [<jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>(2576)\u2009=\u20093.13, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.002; 95% C.I., 0.18 to 0.80] and QoL [<jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>(2576)\u2009=\u20097.71, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001; 95% C.I., 3.14 to 5.28] than their counterparts with UI. Secondary aim: UI-related coping strategies attenuated the impact of UI-symptom severity on SF(<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009\u22120.07; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.041); the more dysfunctional the UI-related beliefs were, the poorer QoL was (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009\u22120.06; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.031); the more frequent the UI-related hiding\/defensive strategies were, the poorer QoL was (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009\u22120.26; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Limitations: online data collection, which thwarted the clarification of participants, if needed; absence of a UI medical diagnosis (only self-reported measures were used). Strengths and practical implications: (i) the crucial role of UI-related beliefs and strategies in the QoL of women with UI; (ii) the impact that UI-concealing\/defensive strategies have in attenuating the impact of UI-symptom severity on SF, which might be perceived as a short-term benefit and hence contribute to maintaining the UI condition and constitute a barrier to help-seeking, (iii) impact of UI-symptom severity on QoL and SF (including a comparison group entailing women without UI, which is scarcely used); and (iv) the use of gold-standard and psychometrically robust instruments.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Changing dysfunctional UI-related beliefs and strategies in clinical settings may improve the QoL; UI-concealing strategies may reinforce themselves by immediate effects on SF, but are not functional in the long term.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1252471","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,1]],"date-time":"2023-12-01T09:39:30Z","timestamp":1701423570000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Beliefs and strategies about urinary incontinence: a possible moderation role between symptoms and sexual function, and quality of life"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Marta","family":"Porto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Mar\u00f4co","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Teresa","family":"Mascarenhas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Filipa","family":"Pimenta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref9001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1002\/nau.20737","article-title":"Reviewing the ICS 2002 terminology report: the ongoing debate","volume":"28","author":"Abrams","year":"2009","journal-title":"Neurourol. 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