The daily living self-efficacy scale: a new measure for assessing self-efficacy in stroke survivors

Abstract

Purpose: To develop and examine the psychometric properties of the Daily Living Self-Efficacy Scale (DLSES) designed to assess stroke survivors’ self-efficacy in daily functioning. Method: Two groups of participants (N = 424) were recruited, a stroke survivor group (n = 259) who were recruited through two stroke associations in Australia and a non-stroke group (n = 165) who were the partners/carers of the stroke survivors (n = 93) and members of the community in Queensland, Australia (n = 72). Principal Component Analyses (PCA) were used to assess the factor structure of the scale and investigations of internal consistency, test--retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were conducted. Results: The final measure is a 12-item scale comprising two subscales: self-efficacy for psychosocial functioning and self-efficacy for activities of daily living. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, temporal stability and convergent validity, and it discriminated well between the stroke and non-stroke groups. Conclusion: The DLSES is a psychometrically sound measure of self-efficacy in psychosocial functioning and self-efficacy in activities of daily living appropriate for stroke survivors, regardless of level of physical impairment.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• A key factor that may influence outcome following a stroke is the level of self-efficacy that stroke survivors have in their ability to function in their daily life. The DLSES provides a measure of this ability that may be useful in enhancing preparation for the return to the community.

• The DLSES assesses self-efficacy in two important areas of daily functioning – activities of daily living and psychosocial functioning.

• This new measure can be administered to stroke individuals regardless of the nature or degree of physical impairment.

• Activities of daily living
• daily living self-efficacy scale
• psychosocial functioning
• stroke

Notes

¹Prior to performing a PCA to explore the factor structure of the DLSES, an independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the mean DLSES scores for participants from the community (n = 72) and the partners/carers of stroke survivors (n = 93). There was no significant difference in scores for participants in the community (M = 88.71, SD = 12.33) and the partners/carers of the stroke survivors (M = 86.26; SD = 15.55; t(163) = −1.10, p > 0.05). The magnitude of the differences in the means was very small (eta squared = 0.01). Consequently, both groups of non-stroke participants formed the control group.

²Given that the bivariate results using nonparametric methods (Spearman’s correlations) were very similar to the parametric results (Pearson’s correlations), correlations for convergent and divergent validity, and self-awareness are reported using the parametric method.