| dc.description.abstract | Background: Parkinson’s disease affects 1-2% of people in Norway over 60 years of age. Parkinson’s
disease is characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms, which can impair mobility, and challenge
everyday life. As Parkinson’s disease symptoms worsen, maintaining higher self-efficacy and quality of life
may be difficult. A multidisciplinary approach is recommended, and multidisciplinary rehabilitation
programs can be pivotal to increase self-efficacy and quality of life. However, the evidence for the
associations between self-efficacy and quality of life in patients with Parkinson’ disease, is scarce.
Aims: i) Whether positive changes in functional status, self-efficacy, and quality of life can occur following a
three-week multidisciplinary rehabilitation program for patients with Parkinson’s disease, ii) whether initial
general self-efficacy was associated with quality of life at three weeks follow-up when controlling for
demographic variables and baseline quality of life, and iii) whether initial levels of self-efficacy and quality
of life moderate changes on the same variables.
Methods: Eighty-three participants with Parkinson’s disease completed the General self-efficacy scale and
the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 at the beginning of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program
and at the three-week follow-up. Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were conducted to analyze
differences in scores between baseline and three weeks follow-up. Hierarchical linear regressions were
conducted to assess direct associations between the independent variables and quality of life scale
scores, while adjusting for the covariance between the independent variables. Paired t-tests were
conducted, after splitting the sample by the median scores, to assess whether initial levels of general selfefficacy
and quality of life moderated changes on the same variables.
Results: Positive changes in functional status, self-efficacy, and quality of life occurred following a threeweek
multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. Initial models showed that higher baseline general selfefficacy
was associated with higher quality of life at follow-up. However, this association was weakened
when baseline quality of life was included in the model. Initial general self-efficacy and quality of life scores
moderated the changes in general self-efficacy and quality of life. Participants with the poorest initial
scores showed most gains. | en |
