Hope and self-efficacy are associated with better satisfaction with life in people with ALS

Abstract

The psychological phenotype in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is less negative than in other neurodegenerative diseases, manifested by a lower prevalence of psychopathology, such as anxiety and major depression, and a higher perceived quality of life by patients, irrespective of physical impairment. We hypothesized that positive psychological factors such as hope, optimism, and self-efficacy in people with ALS (PALS) were key determinants of satisfaction with life (SWL), despite physical impairment, and were protective against psychopathology. Forty PALS, at different functional levels, completed objective questionnaires to evaluate psychological factors of hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and SWL. Approximately 41% of the variance in SWL was accounted for by the Agency factor of hope. The results indicated that SWL was significantly correlated to specific positive psychological factors of hope and self-efficacy. Physical impairment was not correlated with positive psychological factors or SWL. These results support the role of hope and self-efficacy in maintaining satisfaction with life in PALS and consideration of these potentially modifiable factors could improve palliative therapy.

Keywords:

• ALS
• psychology
• psychopathology
• satisfaction with life
• hope
• optimism
• self-efficacy
• physical ability

Acknowledgements

Authors thank the patients who agreed to participate in our study. We would also like to thank IsrALS, the Israeli association for ALS patients, for logistical support. Finally, we would like to thank Gil Niran, who came up with the rationale for this study, but sadly succumbed before seeing it in press.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.