Evaluation of the Swedish Self‐Efficacy in Palliative Care Scale and exploration of nurses' and physicians' self‐efficacy in Swedish hospitals: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious research found that healthcare professionals had low preparedness for palliative care. Thus, it is necessary to explore healthcare professionals' self‐efficacy. The Swedish Self‐Efficacy in Palliative Care Scale (SEPC‐SE) evaluates readiness in communication, patient management and multidisciplinary teamwork; however, it should be tested on a larger population. Furthermore, the constructs of the SEPC‐SE should be compared to that of the original SEPC.AimThis study aimed to evaluate the consensus between the construct validity and reliability of the SEPC and the translated and adapted SEPC‐SE. Furthermore, it aimed to describe and compare the self‐efficacy of nurses and physicians in hospitals and explore the associated factors.MethodsThe nurses (n = 288) and physicians (n = 104) completed the SEPC‐SE. Factor analysis with Cronbach's alpha evaluated validity and reliability, and an analysis using the Mann‐Whitney U test compared self‐efficacy and multiple linear regression‐associated factors.ResultsThe SEPC‐SE revealed three factors with high reliability. Education or experience in specialised palliative care was minor, especially for nurses. Self‐efficacy was highest in patient management (nurses, median [md] = 74.57, physicians md = 81.71, p = 0.010) and communication (nurses md = 69.88, physicians md = 77.00, p = 0.141) and lowest in multidisciplinary teamwork (nurses md = 52.44, physicians md = 62.88, p = 0.001). The strongest associations with self‐efficacy were education at work and advanced homecare experiences. In addition, there were significant associations between years in the profession, male sex, physicians and university education.ConclusionThe SEPC‐SE is valid and reliable for measuring self‐efficacy. Nurses had lower self‐efficacy than physicians. Physicians were associated with higher self‐efficacy and had more education and experience in palliative care settings, which may explain their levels of self‐efficacy.