A Study of the Relationship between Self-Efficacy, Social Support and Self-Care Behaviors in Post Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery Patients

Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Hsiu-Chin Yu, BSN , Chest and Cardiovascular Surgery Department, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung, Keelung, Taiwan
Shui-Tao Hu, MS, RN , Nursing Department, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan
Chi-Hsiao Yeh, PhD , Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung, Keelung, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: understand the self-care behavior score in post CABG patients is higher in subjects who quit smoking before surgery.

Learning Objective 2: understand self-care behaviors in post CABG patients have a significant positive correlation with self-efficacy.

Although coronary artery bypass surgery is an effective therapy for coronary artery disease, it couldn't stop the course of atherosclerotic change of coronary artery. Patients who have coronary atery bypass surgery must promot their self-care behaviors to postpone the recurrence of diseases. Many literatures review indicated that enhancing self-efficacy and social support could improve self-care behaviors of chronic disease patients. The researchers use descriptive correlational design and purposive sampling 80 subjects to explore the relationship among self-efficacy, social support and self-care behaviors in post coronary artery bypass surgery patients. Data was collected on patient characteristics questionnaire, self-efficacy, social support and self-care behavior scale. Independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used for data analysis. The results showed that the item of the highest and lowest score of total self-care behaviors was “return to clinics on schedule” and “check blood pressure regularly” respectively. The total self-care behavior score is remarkably higher in subjects who live alone and who quit smoking before surgery. The total self-care behaviors have no significant correlation with total social support, but have a significant positive correlation with total self-efficacy. According to the results, clinical nurses should increase self-efficacy of the patients who have coronary artery bypass surgery to promote their self-care behaviors and prevent recurrence of diseases.