The Contribution of Living Arrangements, Social Support, and Self-efficacy to Self-management Behaviors Among Individuals With Heart Failure: A Path Analysis. Issue 4 (July 2019) - Irani, Elliane
Abstract : Background: Living arrangements, social support, and self-efficacy have significant implications for self-management science. Despite the theoretical linkages among the 3 concepts, there is limited empirical evidence about their interplay and the subsequent influence on heart failure (HF) self-management. Objective: The aim of this study was to validate components of the Individual and Family Self-management Theory among individuals with HF. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data generated from a sample of 370 individuals with HF. A path analysis was conducted to examine the indirect and direct associations among social environment (living arrangements), social facilitation (social support) and belief (self-efficacy) processes, and self-management behaviors (HF self-care maintenance) while accounting for individual and condition-specific factors (age, sex, race, and HF disease severity). Results: Three contextual factors (living arrangements, age, and HF disease severity) had direct associations with perceived social support and self-efficacy, which in turn were positively associated with HF self-management behaviors. Living alone ( β = −.164, P = .001) was associated with lower perceived social support, whereas being an older person ( β = .145, P = .004) was associated with better support. Moderate to severe HF status ( β = −.145, P = .004) or higher levels of perceived social support ( β = .153, P = .003) were associated with self-efficacy. Conclusions: Our results support the Individual and Family Self-management Theory, highlighting the importance of social support and self-efficacy to foster self-management behaviors for individuals with HF. Future research is needed to further explore relationships among living arrangements, perceived and received social support, self-efficacy, and HF self-management.