Beyond the "self" in self-efficacy: Spouse confidence predicts patient survival following heart failure.
Ratings of patient efficacy to manage illness, made by 191 congestive heart failure patients and their spouses, were examined as predictors of patients' survival over the next 4 years. When considered alone, both the patient's self-efficacy and the spouse's confidence ratings predicted survival, but only spouse confidence remained significant when both partners" efficacy ratings were included in the same Cox regression model. The overlapping prognostic significance of spouse confidence and a global, multicomponent measure of marital quality positioned the former as a proxy for the latter, reflecting a fundamentally social protective factor in patient survival. Successful adaptation to heart failure appears to involve more than the patient's personal agency, and psychosocial data from spouses can improve prediction of patient outcomes.
Rohrbaugh
Michael J
MJ
Department of Psychology.
Shoham
Varda
V
Department of Psychology.
Coyne
James C
JC
Department of Psychiatry.
Cranford
James A
JA
0000-0003-2068-9282
Addiction Research Center.
Sonnega
John S
JS
Institute for Social Research.
Nicklas
John M
JM
Department of Cardiology.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D015996:Survival Rate