Effects of received and mobilized support on recipients' and providers' self-efficacy beliefs: a 1-year follow-up study with patients receiving radical prostatectomy and their spouses

Int J Psychol. 2009 Apr;44(2):129-37. doi: 10.1080/00207590701607930.

Abstract

From a proactive agentic perspective, social support is not just seen as a protective cushion against environmental demands. Rather, support may facilitate an individual's self-regulation by enhancing perceived self-efficacy (i.e., enabling hypothesis). In the present study, patient-reported indicators of mobilized and received spousal support as predictors of their own and their spouses' self-efficacy beliefs were investigated within 1 year following radical prostatectomy. During this time frame, postoperative sequelae such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunctions are still likely to interfere with couples' everyday activities. Seventy-two patients receiving radical prostatectomy and their spouses participated. Patients' and spouses' self-efficacy beliefs and patients' received and mobilized spousal support were assessed prior to and 12 months following surgery. Additional patient-reported covariates at 1 year post-surgery were degree of bother by urinary incontinence, overall sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction. Results indicated that patients' received spousal support was associated with higher levels of patients' self-efficacy only cross-sectionally, but not longitudinally. Support mobilized by the patient prior to and 1 year after surgery, however, positively predicted spouses' levels and changes in self-efficacy. Results, thus, did not fully confirm predictions by the enabling hypothesis of social support; rather, associated aspects, such as the degree of being mobilized as a provider of support or being needed, seem to enhance agency beliefs in spouses.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Aged
  • Caregivers / psychology*
  • Convalescence
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Culture*
  • Erectile Dysfunction / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Laparoscopy / psychology*
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Personal Satisfaction
  • Postoperative Complications / psychology*
  • Prostatectomy / psychology*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / psychology*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Quality of Life / psychology
  • Self Efficacy*
  • Social Support*
  • Spouses / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Urinary Incontinence / parasitology