Introduction

The underlying aim of any caregiving intervention is to bring about a meaningful change. The most tried and true method of doing so is fostering caregiving self-efficacy, one’s personal self-confidence regarding their ability to perform a specific caregiving behavior^1-3. Researchers have established that interventions which provide caregivers with important skills and tools can help increase their caregiving self-efficacy^4,5.

However, improving skills and fostering self-efficacy goes beyond simply increasing confidence in one’s caregiving abilities. A person’s beliefs about their self-efficacy can actually have effects on their psychosocial functioning, like their level of vulnerability to emotional distress^7,8. One’s beliefs about self-efficacy can also impact whether a person will initiate coping behaviors, how much effort they will put into coping behaviors, and for how long they will sustain their efforts in the face of adversity⁷. Therefore, researchers believe that self-efficacy can actually help explain why some caregivers cope better with caregiving burden and stress than others⁶.

For example, caregivers with low self-efficacy tend to focus on their weaknesses or areas of difficulty and have decreased motivation, putting them at greater risk for experiencing depression, anxiety, and even anger⁴. On the contrary, caregivers with increased self-efficacy are more likely to be able to continue providing care as their loved one’s condition progresses and tasks become more difficult without this having as big of an impact on their own emotional distress^6,9.

Caregivers with increased self-efficacy are more likely to be able to continue providing care as their loved one’s condition progresses and tasks become more difficult without this having as big of an impact on their own emotional distress.

It is evident that self-efficacy is a powerful force that not only promotes skilled and effective caregiving, but may also enhance the sustainability of caregiving by increasing one’s resilience and decreasing one’s vulnerability to the emotional distress and burden of caregiving¹⁰. After all, sustainable family caregiving plays a large role in the effort to have the aging population age-in-place. For this reason, interventions must ensure that their programs are designed with the intent to target and increase self-efficacy.

To learn more about how our tools can help foster confidence in caregivers, contact Leda Rosenthal, Director of Growth, at Leda@Trualta.com or 1-800-214-5085 ext 1.

References

1. Ritterband, L. M., Thorndike, F. P., Cox, D. J., Kovatchev, B. P., & Gonder-Frederick, L. A. (2009). A behavior change model for internet interventions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 38(1), 18-27.
2. O’Leary, A. Self-efficacy and health. Behaviour Research and Therapy 1985; 23: 437 – 451.
3. Strecher, V. J., McEvoy DeVellis, B., Becker, M. H., & Rosenstock, I. M. (1986). The role of self-efficacy in achieving health behavior change. Health Education Quarterly, 13(1), 73-92.
4. Chyung, S. Y., LePiane, J., Shamsy, J., & Radloff, M. (2018). Improving caregivers’ confidence with the Powerful Tools for Caregivers program. Educational Gerontology, 44(9), 572-585.
5. Won, C. W., Fitts, S. S., Favaro, S., Olsen, P., & Phelan, E. A. (2008). Community-based “powerful tools” intervention enhances health of caregivers. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 46(1), 89-100
6. Steffen, A. M., McKibbin, C., Zeiss, A. M., Gallagher-Thompson, D., & Bandura, A. (2002). The revised scale for caregiving self-efficacy: Reliability and validity studies. Journal of Gerontology, 57(1), 74-86.
7. Bandura A., 1997. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control W.H. Freeman and Company, New York.
8. Gilliam, C. M., & Steffen, A. M. (2006). The relationship between caregiving self-efficacy and depressive symptoms in dementia family caregivers. Aging and Mental Health, 10(2), 79-86.
9. Mollica, M. A., Litzelman, K., Rowland, J. H., & Kent, E. E. (2017). The role of medical/nursing skills training in caregiver confidence and burden: A CanCORS study. Cancer, 123(22), 4481-4487.
10. Scicolone, M. A. (2018). Examining pathways of the caregiver burden-health relationship in family caregivers of elderly veterans: the importance of caregiver self-efficacy and social support (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Alabama).