Learned helplessness as an interacting variable with self-care agency: testing a theoretical model

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Orem's theory of self-care provides a framework for understanding individuals' capacity to perform self-care.
• Learned helplessness theory suggests that repeated negative experiences can lead to a feeling of powerlessness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a model of the interaction between self-care agency and learned helplessness.
• To examine the relationship between learned helplessness and self-care agency in healthy working adults.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive, correlational research design.
• Examined self-care agency conditioning factors: age and gender.
• Investigated the hypothesis that learned helplessness is inversely related to self-care agency.

Main Results:

• The hypothesis was supported, showing a significant inverse relationship between learned helplessness and self-care agency (r = -.57).
• Neither age nor gender showed a significant relationship with the main variables in the study population.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest that increased learned helplessness is associated with decreased self-care agency among working adults.
• Implications for nursing research, theory development in self-care, and practical nursing interventions are discussed.