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Mentalization and Self-Efficacy as Mediators between Psychological Symptom Severity and Disabilities in Activities
Thomas Probst1, Maria Dehoust, Anna Levke Brütt
1Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria.
Background:
Psychotherapy patients can be more or less disabled by their psychological symptoms. The present study investigated whether mentalization and self-efficacy contribute to the association between psychological symptom severity and disabilities in activities and participation.
Methods:
The data of 216 psychotherapy inpatients were examined in a cross-sectional design. Bootstrapping-enhanced mediation analyses were performed to investigate whether self-efficacy and mentalization are mediators between psychological symptom severity and disabilities in activities and participation. The Hamburg Modules for the Assessment of Psychosocial Health-49 were used to measure psychological symptom severity and self-efficacy, mentalization was assessed with the Mentalization Questionnaire, and disabilities in activities and participation were operationalized with the ICF-Mental-A & P questionnaire.
Results:
Mentalization as well as self-efficacy functioned as mediators between psychological symptom severity and disabilities in activities and participation (p < 0.05). They were equally strong mediators, and both remained significant mediators when statistically controlling for the other mediator (p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Mentalization as well as self-efficacy explain a significant proportion of the relationship between psychological symptom severity and disabilities in activities and participation. Working on mentalizing and self-efficacy might be important mechanisms to reduce disability due to symptoms. The cross-sectional design is a limitation of the study.
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