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.
Department of Psychology.
Michael J
MJ
Rohrbaugh
Department of Psychology.
Varda
V
Shoham
Department of Psychiatry.
James C
JC
Coyne
Addiction Research Center.
James A
0000-0003-2068-9282
JA
Cranford
Institute for Social Research.
John S
JS
Sonnega
Department of Cardiology.
John M
JM
Nicklas
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