Evaluation of the Impact of Self-Efficacy-Based Training on Depression, Self-Care Behaviors, and Quality of Life in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common diagnosis among patients with gastrointestinal diseases and can adversely affect their quality of life. In this regard, the present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of self-efficacy-based training on depression, self-care behaviors, and the quality of life of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

This applied quasi-intervention study was conducted based on a pretest-posttest design with a control group and follow-up. The statistical population included all patients with irritable bowel syndrome who referred to Khorshid Hospital in Isfahan, Iran from September to November 2019. The samples were selected using the convenience sampling method. In total, 30 patients with irritable bowel syndrome were included in the study and randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The data were collected using Beck depression inventory, self-care questionnaire, and quality of life questionnaire. The intervention group received four sessions of self-efficacy training (one session per week for 90 min), while the control group did not receive any training. Two months later, the follow-up period was completed. The collected data were analyzed using repeated measures of analysis of variance in SPSS software (version 22).

The results showed that self-efficacy training was effective in decreasing depression (P<0.0001, F=35.39) and increasing quality of life (P<0.0001, F=120.30) and self-care behaviors (P<0.0001, F=70.50) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

It can be concluded that training based on self-efficacy theory can effectively reduce depression and increase self-care behaviors and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.