Perceived subjective support is associated with self-efficacy in older adults early after intestinal stoma surgery: a...

The early postoperative period after intestinal stoma surgery involves psychosocial adaptation for older adults. Self-efficacy is related to stoma care, social participation, and daily self-management. Social support includes objective support, subjective support, and support utilization. The cross-sectional association between these dimensions and self-efficacy remains insufficiently described in older adults early after intestinal stoma surgery.

This single-center cross-sectional study recruited 162 consecutively sampled older patients (≥60 years) at 1-3 months after their first intestinal stoma surgery. The Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) assessed total social support, objective support, subjective support, and support utilization. The Stoma Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES) assessed total self-efficacy, stoma care self-efficacy, and social self-efficacy. Pearson correlation analyses were corrected using the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) procedure across 36 tests. Multiple linear regression models used available covariates. Residual diagnostics, HC3 robust standard errors, and formal interaction tests were performed.

Total social support was not correlated with total self-efficacy after FDR correction (r = 0.095, p = 0.227, q = 0.584). Subjective support was positively correlated with total self-efficacy (r = 0.316, p < 0.001, q = 0.002) and social self-efficacy (r = 0.255, p = 0.001, q = 0.019). In available-covariate regression models, subjective support was associated with SSES-based total self-efficacy (B = 1.790, β = 0.438, p < 0.001), stoma care self-efficacy (B = 0.819, β = 0.281, p = 0.001), and social self-efficacy (B = 0.658, β = 0.329, p < 0.001). The corresponding R ² values were 0.159, 0.069, and 0.095; these SSES-based results were interpreted as exploratory because of the scale's limited internal consistency in this cohort.

Subjective support was associated with SSES-based self-efficacy scores in older adults early after intestinal stoma surgery. Given the limited internal consistency of the SSES in this cohort, these findings should be interpreted cautiously as exploratory associations rather than definitive evidence.