Social support and psychological adjustment to SARS: The mediating role of self-care self-efficacy

Abstract

The study tested the model of perceived support from medical staff and family/friends on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) survivors’ mental health as mediated by self-care self-efficacy. One hundred and forty-three SARS survivors recruited from the Hong Kong Hospital Authority following 18 months recovery were surveyed by trained interviewers using structured questionnaires. Based on structural equation modeling, findings showed that self-care self-efficacy completely mediated the effects of perceived medical staff support and perceived family/friends support on mental health status. The model achieved a satisfactory fit, CFI = 0.98, NNFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.06, and explained 75.2% of the variance in mental health status. The study is the first attempt in understanding long-term psychological adjustment of SARS survivors. Findings may be applicable to other infectious disease outbreaks in informing psychosocial factors that are important to long-term recovery.

Keywords:

• SARS
• self-care self-efficacy
• social support
• psychological adjustment

Acknowledgement

The study is supported by research grant CUHK-PH-002 from the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases (RFCID). The authors would like to thank Dr David S.C. Hui, Dr Tze Wai Wong, and Dr John W.K. Yeung for their assistance in data collection. We also would like to thank the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases, and the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, Hong Kong SAR for their support.