Learning needs and perceived self-efficacy of patients with chronic low back pain

Hynes, Elizabeth (1997) Learning needs and perceived self-efficacy of patients with chronic low back pain. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the learning needs and self-efficacy of 41 patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP), in an outpatient pain treatment clinic in St. John's, Newfoundland, and to examine relationships between perceived learning needs, pain-related self-efficacy, demographic and injury-related factors. Knowles' (1980) adult learning theory and Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory guided this study. Learning needs were assessed using the patient learning needs scale (PLNS) and self-efficacy was measured using the self-efficacy scale, developed by Long et al. (1989a). -- Patients in this study reported having many learning needs in order to manage their own care at home. Of most importance to these subjects was information about treatments and complications, medications and enhancing quality of life. Learning needs were associated with education level, pain experienced "most of the time" and distress experienced "most of the time". As a group, subjects reported low self-efficacy fa all three self-efficacy subscales-pain, function and other symptoms. The lowest scores were reported for pain self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was associated with education level and distress experienced by the patient at the time of interview. A statistically significant inverse relationship was found between learning needs and self-efficacy. This relationship was particularly evident between learning needs and function self-efficacy with a correlation of -0.70. These findings have implications for nursing practice and future research.

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