Back in the summer and fall of 2016 I wondered how much I would be able to accomplish in my life. Can I even manage through the situation I’m in? Particularly with my physical health, having recently been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and then the mental health consequences (mainly anxiety) that had come along with it? My partner and I were fighting a lot, despite having only moved in together a few months earlier. What would happen to my dreams of being a filmmaker if I can’t be active on set for 12+ hours straight? My self-efficacy was falling and falling…
Self-efficacy is our beliefs in our ability to cope or succeed during a difficult situation. Those with higher self-efficacy, have higher beliefs in their abilities, and those with lower have, well, lower. I see this a lot within the chronic illness community, and it makes sense, because as the opening story pointed out, I’ve been there too. The pain, and discomfort or disability from having one or more chronic illnesses messes with one’s self-efficacy because of the drastic changes it makes to our lives. However, having high self-efficacy has been linked to better quality of life and less disability from illness, so it’s important for us to find ways to improve it. But how do we go about doing this?
I looked at a number of research studies to find some answers, because it is a good and important question. The studies were all from 2010-2021 and the illnesses included ranged from COPD to diabetes to people with multiple chronic illnesses. These are some of the ways to improve self-efficacy, which is directly linked to self-care ability, and you’re about to see why:
- more physical activity – yes, this can be hard for people with chronic illness, which is why I recommend starting slow and building up, and working with appropriate professionals such as physiotherapists and personal trainers.
- healthy eating – eating a nutritious diet can improve our ability to cope, but this can be a struggle if you’re not used to eating one, so take this slow, one meal at a time.
- a lower emotional response to your illness – this is because of the mind-body connection (check out that podcast episode here). This can be accomplished with the help of a psychotherapist and by practicing things like meditations (like these).
- having less perceived consequences from your illness – I think this is much more difficult to accomplish and can take much more time -change is slow! This will likely improve as other areas improve, and working with a whole team of healthcare professionals was helpful for me.
- problem solving – our ability to problem solve is linked to self-efficacy in a variety of contexts. Working with appropriate healthcare and mental healthcare professionals on problem solving is a helpful way to learn to problem solve so that you can do more of it on your own in the future.
- having more social support – build that network! I find that online support groups aren’t always the most helpful because sometimes it’s negative feeding negative, but if you find it is helpful for you then go with it. Also utilizing your family, friends, and any local peer supports you have is important.
- having a good understanding of your illness – and this means not just the bad parts, the terrible outcomes, but also looking for success stories, as in people who have a good quality of life with your illness. The full range of human experience is important to consider. I call myself a realistic optimist.
- having doctors who use person-centred communication – I’ll admit this can be hard to find, and if you have the ability to “shop around” for one that does use this then that might be a good idea. This type of communication includes fostering healing relationships, exchanging information, responding to emotions (yes, doctors should understand that you will have an emotional response to your illness), helping you manage your uncertainty about your illness, making decisions collaboratively, and enabling you to be able to self-manage your illness.
Cut to summer 2021 and my self-efficacy is high. I’ve traveled, both with others and by myself between 2017 and 2019. I exercise regularly, try to eat healthy, problem solve well, cope with my emotions, don’t perceive myself as having a disability, am always learning more about my illness, have a great support system, and while I don’t currently have a doctor because I’m going to be moving soon (for the last time for a while) I know that I can find one like the previous ones I had. I utilized a full team of healthcare professionals and took a lot of ownership over my own health in my journey the past 5 years. However, if you told me 5 years ago that I could get here, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Change is slow. You can keep making the most of it though!
New (and much more refined) season of the podcast launched this week! Available everywhere you get them (here’s the web link!)
Chronically Living 