title: Perceived self-competence, psychosocial adjustment, and quality of life in pediatric patients with pacemakers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare participants' self-competence levels to normative data and examine self-competence as a potential protective factor against poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychosocial adjustment in children with pacemakers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven children between the ages of 8 and 18 years and their caregivers were recruited from a pediatric pacemaker clinic. Participants completed self-report and parent-proxy measures of children's health-related quality of life (HRQOL), self-competence, and psychosocial functioning, which included externalizing and internalizing symptoms, adaptive skills, and behavioral symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants reported significantly lower levels of self-competence compared to healthy norms. Self-competence was significantly and positively correlated with most HRQOL domains. Few significant correlations emerged between self-competence and various domains of psychosocial functioning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-competence may function as a protective factor against lower HRQOL in children with pacemakers. There was less evidence that self-competence may play a protective role against lower adaptive skills and higher externalizing, internalizing, and behavioral symptoms. Clinical implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and areas for future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; †Sibley Heart Center Cardiology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA; and ‡Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; §Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gutierrez-Colina
authors.forename: Cyd
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eaton
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strieper
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Frias
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gooden
authors.forename: Ronald L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Blount
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012647:Self-Assessment