Self-efficacy and cognition in Multiple Sclerosis

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Self-efficacy and cognition in people with a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.

  • IRAS ID

    196799

  • Contact name

    Laura E Spencer

  • Contact email

    psp4eb@bangor.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Bangor University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 1 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    Cognitive impairments are reported to occur in approximately half of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (DeSousa, Albert, & Kalman, 2002), and have a wide impact upon personal, social, and occupational functioning (Kalmar, Gaudino, Moore, Halper, & DeLuca, 2008). Adjustment to MS is associated with psychological variables such as self-efficacy (Dennison, Moss-Morris, & Chalder, 2009): Self-efficacy refers to the degree to which an individual believes that they are able to perform a task to produce a desired outcome (Bandura, 1977). Self-efficacy for managing symptoms of MS is a significant predictor of perceived/subjective cognitive impairment (Hughes, Beier, Hartoonian, Turner, Amtmann, & Ehde, 2015; Schmitt, Goverover, DeLuca, & Chiaravalloti, 2014), even when the impact of depression and fatigue upon cognition is controlled for. Self-efficacy is also associated with objective cognitive impairment in people with MS (Jongen et al., 2015). One of the aims of this study is to develop the currently limited knowledge base and increase our understanding of self-efficacy and it’s role in cognition for people with MS. This study also aims to use ecologically valid measures of cognition to give a clearer indication as to how the results translate to everyday life for people with MS. Furthermore, this study aims to determine whether self-efficacy remains predictive of perceived cognitive impairment in MS when objective cognitive impairment (and other variables such as mood and fatigue) have been controlled for.

  • REC name

    Wales REC 5

  • REC reference

    16/WA/0186

  • Date of REC Opinion

    24 Jun 2016

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion