Self-Efficacy, Symptoms Burden and Compliance Among Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that may significantly affect patients’ ability to manage their illness. Self-efficacy plays an important role in enabling patients to cope with their disease and participate effectively in self-management.
Aim: The study aimed to to assess self-efficacy, symptoms burden, and compliance among patients with SLE.
Design: A descriptive correlation research design was used to achieve the aim of the study.
Setting: The study was conducted at the Immune and Rheumatology Department Outpatient Clinic, Ain Shams University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
Sample: A purposive sample of 135 adult patients diagnosed with SLE. Tools: Four tools of data collection were used:
Tool I: Patients’ Interviewing Questionnaire, It consisted of two parts :
Part I: Patient’s Sociodemographic Characteristics and
Part II: Patients’ Clinical Data.
Tool II: General Self-Efficacy Scale.
Tool III: Symptom Burden Assessment, including the Lupus Impact Tracker, Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Fatigue Severity Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Perceived Stress Scale, and Barthel Index.
Tool IV: Patient Compliance Rating Scale, assessing medication, exercise, healthy nutrition, and follow-up compliance.
Results: Regarding self-efficacy, 69.6% of the studied patients had negative self-efficacy, with a mean score of 26.27 ± 6.353. Regarding symptom burden, 57.8% experienced severe fatigue, 74.1% had poor sleep quality, and 37.0% had high lupus impact. Regarding compliance, 76.3% had unsatisfactory compliance, with a mean score of 70.12 ± 19.22. Compliance was significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy (r = .629, p < .001) and significantly negatively correlated with symptom burden, particularly sleep disturbance (r = −.598), lupus impact (r = −.586), pain (r = −.557), and fatigue (r = −.514), all p < .001. Self-efficacy was significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress (r = −.684) and lupus impact (r = −.632, p < .001). The study concluded that most patients with SLE had negative self-efficacy, considerable symptom burden, and unsatisfactory compliance. Higher self-efficacy was associated with better compliance, while greater symptom burden was associated with lower self-efficacy and compliance.
Recommendation: Developing structured nursing education and self-management programs are recommended to strengthen self-efficacy, reduce symptom burden, and improve compliance among patients with SLE.