'It's our lot': how resilience influences the experience of depression in women with urinary incontinence

Urinary Incontinence has been associated with psychological effects such as depression. We aimed in this study to explore the subjective experience of the burden of urinary incontinence, in relation to mental health, in order to explain how these conditions interact. A qualitative study was undertaken using the Framework Approach to analyse in-depth interviews with nineteen women regarding their experiences with psychosocial outcomes for those with urinary incontinence with and without comorbid depression. Older women across all severities of incontinence and categories of depression tended to cope better than younger women. Within our resilience framework, two patterns of resilience - relational and situational - appear to contribute most to the experiences of women with incontinence and the particular way they respond to depression. Resilience-focused interventions in women newly diagnosed with incontinence may lessen the impact of depression on these women.