503
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Emotional discomfort mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and subjective quality of life in people with schizophrenia

ORCID Icon, , , ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon &
Pages 20-26 | Received 09 Sep 2018, Accepted 07 Jan 2019, Published online: 16 Mar 2019
 

Abstract

Background

In people with schizophrenia, self-efficacy (i.e. the belief in one’s capability to perform particular tasks/skills) is associated with and motivates performance of social, health and independent living behaviours. Less well known is whether self-efficacy is associated with subjective quality of life (sQoL) or whether psychopathology impacts this relationship.

Aims

Measure whether greater self-efficacy is associated with greater community functioning and sQoL and whether emotional discomfort mediates this relationship.

Method

Fifty-two community living people with schizophrenia completed measures of self-efficacy for everyday living and social situations, clinical symptoms, sQoL and community functioning.

Results

Greater everyday living and social self-efficacy was significantly correlated with greater sQoL and community functioning and lower emotional discomfort (p < 0.05). Only social self-efficacy was correlated with negative symptoms. The relationship between both aspects of self-efficacy and sQoL was, however, mediated by emotional discomfort. Greater confidence in performing social and everyday living behaviours therefore indirectly impacted sQoL through reducing emotional distress.

Conclusions

Holding negative capability self-beliefs may contribute to poorer outcome for people with schizophrenia. Intervention aimed at facilitating recovery should therefore provide opportunities to develop knowledge and skills required for success in desired life roles and the belief that tasks required for success can be performed.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Elizabeth Thomas and Sean Carruthers who assisted with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The conduct of this research was supported by doctoral and honours research funds provided by the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University, fellowship funding to SL from the National Health and Medical Research Council and an equipment grant provided by the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University of Technology.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 989.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.