Enabling or cultivating? The role of prostate cancer patients' received partner support and self-efficacy in the maintenance of pelvic floor exercise following tumor surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To manage incontinence following tumor surgery, prostate cancer patients are advised to perform pelvic floor exercise (PFE). Patients' self-efficacy and support from partners were shown to facilitate PFE. Whereas support may enhance self-efficacy (enabling function), self-efficacy may also cultivate support (cultivation function).
PURPOSE: Cross-lagged inter-relationships among self-efficacy, support, and PFE were investigated.
METHOD: Post-surgery patient-reported received support, self-efficacy, PFE, and partner-reported provided support were assessed from 175 couples at four times. Autoregressive models tested interrelations among variables, using either patients' or partners' reports of support.
RESULTS: Models using patients' data revealed positive associations between self-efficacy and changes in received support, which predicted increased PFE. Using partners' accounts of support provided, these associations were partially cross-validated. Furthermore, partner-provided support was related with increases in patients' self-efficacy.
CONCLUSION: Patients' self-efficacy may cultivate partners' support provision for patients' PFE, whereas evidence of an enabling function of support as a predictor of self-efficacy was inconsistent.