Improving Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy — which can be defined as "your beliefs in your own competence"-- is associated with better outcomes post-stroke including: quality of life or perceived health status, depression, Activities of Daily living and, to a certain extent, physical functioning.

Self-efficacy comes from the social cognitive theory developed by Mundare, Alberta born Psychologist Albert Bandura at Stanford University. He defined self-efficacy as one's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations.

Dr. Bandura’s work hypothesizes that an individual’s actions and reaction in almost every situation is influenced by the actions which that individual has observed in other people. If you see someone else in a situation similar to yours succeeding, you believe you can too and are more likely to try. People with high self-efficacy, those who believe they can perform well, are more likely to view difficult tasks as something to be mastered rather than something to be avoided.

In their recent review of self-efficacy and self management interventions after stroke, Fiona Jones and Afsane Riazi concluded that there is emerging evidence of benefits to be gained from programmes that target self-management based on self-efficacy principles, but more research is needed to determine the optimal format for delivering these interventions for stroke survivors.

They recommend that researchers work together with other stakeholders to develop and test interventions that can support self-management skills and confidence to make continued progress after stroke.

Read More:  Spousal Caregiver Confidence Was Correlated with Walking Recovery and Stroke Survivor Self-Efficacy Recovery.

At two weeks and 8 weeks after discharge from rehabilitation, spouses of stroke survivors discharged home were asked, “How confident are you that your spouse will be able to [the next walking activity they are currently unable to do] in the next month?’ They rated their confidence on a five point scale from 1, not confident at all, to 5, extremely confident.

Stroke survivors were asked the question in a similar format, “How confident are you that you will be able to [the next walking activity they are currently unable to do] in the next month?’

The next walking activity they are currently unable to do was the least difficult walking activity the stroke survivor currently could not perform, for example, walk at all, walk without help from someone else, walk with a cane.

Results: Spousal confidence was correlated with walking recovery and stroke survivor self-efficacy for recovery. Higher spousal confidence was associated with a better recovery and greater stroke survivor self-efficacy for recovery. 
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Read the article:  Caregiver confidence.