General self-efficacy in cancer patients. Comparision with general population

Introduction: Psycho-oncology focuses on identifying factors for better adaptation to the disease. One of them is self-efficacy. The conviction of self-efficacy is defined as the role of personal agency that modifies the behavior of health. Self-efficacy is the belief manifests unit that has the potential to act in order to achieve the objective pursued, regardless of the obstacles and restrictions. Strong self-efficacy is associated with positive adaptation to the disease, with a strong motivation to work, higher resistance to stress and constructive remedial strategies. The objective of the paper is to evaluate self-efficacy level in cancer patients and to compare their results with population-based data.

Material and methods: The study included 639 cancer patients. The Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale was used. Patients’ results were compared among groups and to the population data. The study was based on a survey questionnaire, performed once.

Results: The results show that patients have strong or very strong belief in their agency, and the results are close to population data. The highest self-efficacy was shown by patients with urological cancer and the lowest by those with gynecological or breast cancer.

Conclusions: Psycho-oncology focuses on identifying factors for better adaptation to the disease. One of them is self-efficacy. Strong self-efficacy is associated with positive adaptation to the disease, with a strong motivation to work, higher resistance to stress and constructive remedial strategies