The Relationship between Perceived Self-Efficacy and Cervical Cancer Screening among Village Health Volunteers in Suratthani Province, Thailand

Self-efficacy in managing post-treatment care among oral and oropharyngeal cancer survivors

OBJECTIVE

Physical and psychosocial effects of oral cancer result in long-term self-management needs. Little attention has been paid to survivors' self-efficacy in managing their care. Study goals were to characterise self-care self-efficacy and evaluate socio-demographics, disease, attitudinal factors and psychological correlates of self-efficacy and engagement in head and neck self-exams.

METHODS

Two hundred thirty-two oral cancer survivors completed measures of socio-demographics, self-care self-efficacy, head and neck self-exams and attitudinal and psychological measures. Descriptive statistics characterised self-efficacy. Hierarchical regressions evaluated predictors of self-efficacy.

RESULTS

Survivors felt moderately confident in the ability to manage self-care (M = 4.04, SD = 0.75). Survivors with more comorbidities (β = -0.125), less preparedness (β = 0.241), greater information (β = -0.191), greater support needs (β = -0.224) and higher depression (β = -0.291) reported significantly lower self-efficacy. Head and neck self-exam engagement (44% past month) was relatively low. Higher preparedness (OR = 2.075) and self-exam self-efficacy (OR = 2.606) were associated with more engagement in self-exams.

CONCLUSION

Many survivors report low confidence in their ability to engage in important self-care practices. Addressing unmet information and support needs, reducing depressive symptoms and providing skill training and support may boost confidence in managing self-care and optimise regular self-exams.

Validity of a questionnaire on self-efficacy for Pap test adherence screening

Introduction

Self-efficacy has been related to different health preventive behaviors, included adherence to the Papanicolaou test—also called Pap smear or Pap test. The aim of this study is to test construct and criterion validity and reliability of a questionnaire on self-efficacy and the Pap test in Chilean women.

Method

This study was carried out on a sample of 969 women of ages from 25 to 64, who are users of the public health care system in Santiago, Chile. The validity of the Self-Efficacy Scale for the Pap Smear Screening Participation (SES-PSSP) questionnaire was done by confirmatory factor analysis, external criteria by t-test, and reliability by Cronbach’s alpha.

Results

Three models were tested, obtaining a questionnaire with 20 items and 2 dimensions. The criteria validity was confirmed by adherence to the Pap test. The final questionnaire has a reliability of 0.95, measured by Cronbach´s alpha.

Conclusion

A valid and reliable questionnaire to measure self-efficacy in relation to the Pap test is a relevant contribution in cervical cancer prevention, especially related to interventions focused on increasing adherence.