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The relationship between self-efficacy and health-related quality of life in Multiple Sclerosis patients

Silvia Testa, Giorgia Molinengo, Alessandra Oggero, Antonio Bertolotto, Rosalba Rosato

Abstract


Background and Objectives Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a broad spectrum of physical, social, psychological effects and significant impact on quality of life (QoL). Several studies has showed the importance of self-efficacy as a predictor of QoL in patients with MS.

This study aims at evaluating the robustness of the relationship between self-efficacy and QoL. Specifically it aims to test whether such relation will vanish under the following conditions: using a general measure of self-efficacy and controlling for level of impairment defined as a broad construct dealing with physical, social and working changes due to the illness condition.

Methods One hundred-fifty five participants responded to a questionnaire, including QoL and general self-efficacy measures, socio demographic and clinical variables. Two nested structural equation models that differ for the presence or absence of the path connecting self-efficacy and QoL was estimated.

Results and Conclusions The hypothesis of the vanishing of the relationship between self-efficacy and QoL had to be rejected. These results support the genuineness of this relation and emphasize the importance of interventions promoting self-efficacy to improve QoL in chronic diseases such as MS. From a methodological perspective this study is an example of the usefulness of formative indicators in QoL studies.


Keywords


Formative and reflective indicators, HRQoL scores, multiple sclerosis, person-centered healthcare, quality of life, self-efficacy, structural equation model

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5750/ejpch.v3i3.970

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