Investigating factors affecting general self-efficacy in the Elderly with Physical- motor disabilities

With the significant increase in the number of elderly people with various types of disabilities, including physical-motor disabilities, Identifying changeable factors (that may eliminate or prevent physical limitations) in order to improve the independence and quality of life of the elderly with physical-mobility disabilitie is so important. One of the psychological issues in this field is general self-efficacy and its related factors. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determining effective factors on general self-efficacy in the elderly with physical-motor disabilities.

The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive analytical study which was conducted on 200 elderly people with physical-mobility disabilities referring to three selected educational and treatment centers of Babol University of Medical Sciences (Ayatollah Rouhani, Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Yahainejad) with quota sampling method (according to physical-motor disabilities, age and sex) from December to March ,on 2020. To collect data in this study, demographic characteristics form and General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE-10) were used. Data analysis by independent t-test, analysis of variance and Scheffe and multiple linear regression test, using SPSS software version 20 (at a significant level (p≤0.05)) was performed

The present study findings showed that the subjects’ mean age was 72.25 ± 8.45. 58% of the elderly were women and 42% of them were men. the mean score of general self-efficacy was 28.48 ± 6.48 and most of the elderly (55%) had moderate general self-efficacy. It was also found that the demographic variables of employment status (p˂0.001), income level (p˂0.001) and the underlying disease variable (p = 0.034) had a statistically significant relationship with general self-efficacy. Also, the results of multiple linear regression test showed that the contextual variable of income level was most related to general self-efficacy in this group of people.

The results showed that there is a relationship between the variables of employment status, income level, and underlying disease with general self-efficacy. Therefore, it is suggested to pay attention to the impact of these effective factors in planning and educational-counseling interventions based on the empowerment of the elderly with physical-motor disabilities in order to promote general self-efficacy.