[General self-efficacy among family's female caregiver of elderly with Alzheimer's disease]

ABSTRACT

Caregivers of elderly with Alzheimer's disease, particularly females, encounter challenges. Their different roles in giving care to the patients could result in physical and mental disorders. The self-efficacy seems to be an essential factor in empowering individuals coping with stressful situations and challenging tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate general self-efficacy among women as family caregivers of elderly with Alzheimer's disease. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 112 women reffered to the Iran Alzheimer Association, Tehran were selected through convenience sampling method. The General Self-Efficacy Scale [GSE-10] was used to collect data. Data were entered into the SPSS-16 and then processed using descriptive statistics and independent t-test, ANOVA and Scheffe. The mean score of the general self-efficacy was 28.24 +/- 6.34 indicating that considerable percentage of the participants had unsatisfactory level of self-efficacy [65.2%]. In addition, there were significant relationships between the women's general self-efficacy with educational and economic statuses [P<0.05]. There were no significant relationships between general self-efficacy with age, marital status, occupational status and duration of caring. According to the findings, a considerable percentage of the participants had unsatisfactory level of self-efficacy. Therefore, it is essential to promote the caregivers self-efficacy in order to give them the ability of better adaptation with the life's challenges. In particular, the self-efficacy promotive programs should be implemented among caregivers with lower educational and economic status