Mood outcomes of a behavioral treatment for urinary incontinence in prostate cancer survivors

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to assess whether prostate cancer survivors who received a behavioral intervention to urinary incontinence had experienced a significant mood improvement.

Methods: One hundred fifty-three prostate cancer survivors with persistent incontinence were included in this secondary data analysis. They were randomly assigned to usual care or interventions that provided pelvic floor muscle exercises and self-management skills. All subjects had measures of anxiety, depression, and anger at baseline, 3 months (post-intervention), and 6 months (follow-up). Negative binomial regression analysis was performed to examine the group status, daily leakage frequency at 3 months, and their interactions at 3 months as predictors for mood outcomes at 6 months, controlling for demographic and medical variables.

Results: The main effect of daily leakage frequency at 3 months significantly predicted anxiety at 6 months (p < .01). The group main effect on any mood outcomes at 6 months was not statistically significant. The interaction between the group and 3-month leakage had a significant effect on anxiety; intervention subjects achieving a significant leakage reduction at 3 months exhibited significantly less anxiety at 6 months than other subjects (p = .04). Age, employment status, and receiving surgery at baseline were significantly associated with less anxiety, depression, and anger at 6 months.

Conclusions: Reduced urinary incontinence significantly predicted less anxiety, especially among the intervention subjects. The findings suggest a significant association between a behavioral therapy of urinary incontinence and anxiety reduction in prostate cancer survivors.

Keywords: Anxiety; Behavioral intervention; Cancer care; Prostate cancer; Psychosocial studies.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they do not have a financial relation with the funding agency NIH except for honoraria received when performing grant reviews. The authors have full control of the primary data that is available for the journal’s review if requested.

Ethical compliance Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. This study has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors have contributed to this article through research participation, data collection or data analysis, and manuscript production. They provided financial disclosure under the Conflict of Interest.