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

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.