Research Studies

I. Hypotheses and Specific Aims: 1. Specific aim 1: To assess changes in patient depression scores before and after urinary incontinence (UI) surgery. a. Hypothesis 1: Patient depression scores will improve after surgical treatment for UI. We hypothesize that the improvement in depression scores following surgery will be greater as time progresses and incontinence improves (>6 months after surgery). b. Hypothesis 2: Improvement in depression scores will be negatively impacted by post-operative complications that require surgical management or device revision as well as patients that require a higher number of device adjustments/ increased number of clinic visits. c. Hypothesis 3: Patients that have been struggling with UI for a longer period of time before undergoing surgical intervention will have higher pre-operative depression scores compared to men who have had UI for a shorter period. 2. Specific aim 2: To assess patient expectations regarding surgical management of UI and how these expectations impact depression scores. a. Hypothesis 4: Patients with higher Expectation for Treatment Scale (ETS) scores will demonstrate less improvement in depression scores. 3. Specific aim 3: To characterize health literacy and how this impacts ETS scores and depression scores. a. Hypothesis 5: Basic health literacy screen (BHLS) scores will correlate positively with improvement in depression scores. b. Hypothesis 6: BHLS scores will be indirectly associated with ETS scores 4. Specific aim 4: To assess improvements in Quality of Life (QOL) before and after UI surgery. a. Hypothesis 7: Improvements in QOL will correlate directly with improvements in depression scores. b. Hypothesis 8: Improvements in QOL will be impacted by severity and number of post-operative complications.