Measuring the impact of multiple sclerosis on psychosocial functioning: the development of a new self-efficacy scale

To develop a scale to measure self-efficacy in neurologically impaired patients with multiple sclerosis and to assess the scale's psychometric properties.

Cross-sectional questionnaire study in a clinical setting, the retest questionnaire returned by mail after completion at home.

Regional multiple sclerosis (MS) outpatient clinic or the Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) at a large neuroscience centre in the UK.

One hundred persons with MS attending the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery and Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, as outpatients.

Cognitively impaired patients were excluded at an initial clinic assessment. Patients were asked to provide demographic data and complete the self-efficacy scale along with the following validated scales: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Impact, Stigma and Mastery and Rankin Scales. The Rankin Scale and Barthel Index were also assessed by the physician.

A new 11-item self-efficacy scale was constructed consisting of two domains of control and personal agency. The validity of the scale was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha analysis of internal consistency (alpha = 0.81). The test-retest reliability of the scale over two weeks was acceptable with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.79. Construct validity was investigated using Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient resulting in significant correlations with depression (r= -0.52) anxiety (r =-0.50) and mastery (r= 0.73). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that these factors accounted for 70% of the variance of scores on the self-efficacy scale, with scores on mastery, anxiety and perceived disability being independently significant.

Assessment of the psychometric properties of this new self-efficacy scale suggest that it possesses good validity and reliability in patients with multiple sclerosis.