Relationships Among Perceived Functional Capacity, Self-Efficacy, and Disability After Dysvascular Amputation

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Prosthetics and Orthotics
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Prosthesis rehabilitation for dysvascular transtibial amputation (TTA) often prioritizes functional capacity over health self-efficacy.
• Self-efficacy interventions are known to reduce disability in chronic diseases, but their specific impact on dysvascular TTA is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether self-efficacy acts as a mediator in the relationship between functional capacity and disability among individuals with dysvascular TTA.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional, secondary data analysis was conducted.
• Thirty-eight male participants with dysvascular TTA, using prostheses for less than six months, were included.
• Functional capacity was assessed using the Prosthesis Evaluation Questionnaire-Mobility Scale (PEQ-MS), self-efficacy with the Self-Efficacy of Managing Chronic Disease (SEMCD) questionnaire, and disability with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0).

Main Results:

• Self-efficacy was found to partially mediate the relationship between functional capacity and disability.
• Significant correlations were observed between disability (WHODAS 2.0) and functional capacity (PEQ-MS), disability and self-efficacy (SEMCD), and functional capacity and self-efficacy.
• The association between functional capacity and disability remained significant even after controlling for self-efficacy.

Conclusions:

• This study offers preliminary evidence that self-efficacy plays a partial mediating role in the functional capacity-disability relationship post-dysvascular TTA.
• Further longitudinal research is recommended to explore the causal pathways of disability and identify other contributing factors in dysvascular amputation rehabilitation.