The Relationship between Fatigue and Self-efficacy in Patients with Lung Cancer

폐암환자의 피로와 자기효능의 관계

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between fatigue, and self-efficacy in patients with lung cancer. Method: The data was collected from January 21th to April 8th 2001. The study subjects were recruited from K hospital in Pusan, Korea. Their fatigue was measured using the 22-item Revised Piper Fatigue Scale developed by Piper et al. (1998) and translated by the investigators, and self-efficacy was measured using the 10-item General Self-efficacy Questionnaire developed by Lee, Schwarzer & Jerusalem. The data were analyzed by SPSS 10.0 program using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Post-hoc test (Scheffe's test), and Pearson Correlation Coefficients. Result: 1) The mean fatigue score was $118.48{\pm}33.02$ (range: 22-220). The scores for sub-dimension were $35.40{\pm}10.06$ in behavior/severity, $25.98{\pm}9.06$ in affective score, $27.88{\pm}10.06$ in sensory score, and $29.22{\pm}8.27$ in cognitive/mood. The mean self-efficacy score was $28.80{\pm}5.85$. 2). There were significant differences in the fatigue of patients with lung cancer on income per month (F=4.651, p= .014), 'present pain' (F=2.601, p= .012), 'change of weight' (F=5.911, p= .005), by general characteristics. 3) There were significant differences in the self-efficacy of patients with lung cancer on 'religion' (F=3.732, p= .031), 'employment status' (F=5.525, p= .003), 'past therapy' (F=2.869, p= .034), by general characteristics 4) There was a significant negative correlation between fatigue and self-efficacy (r=- .528, p= .000). Conclusion: Patients with lung cancer experience fatigue. Increased fatigue is associated with decreased self-efficacy. Nurses must provide patients with nursing care for the less occurrence of fatigue and interventions to manage self-efficacy for them.