Surrogate decision-making self-efficacy among neurosurgical inpatients and the care burden of their caregivers
YANG Menglan
WANG Aifeng
DING Liansu
LI Zhengming
LIU Yuejuan
Abstract：Objective To investigate and analyze the current status of surrogate decision-making self-efficacy in neurosurgical inpatients and the care burden of their caregivers.Methods 200 primary caregivers of neurosurgical inpatients admitted to Huai'an First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University between June 2023 and June 2025 were selected as study subjects by convenience sampling.General information questionnaires,the Self-Efficacy Scale for Shared Decision-Making(SDM-SES),and the Zarit Burden of Care Scale(ZBI)were used to collect demographic data on patients and caregivers,along with caregivers'SDM-SES and ZBI scores.Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between self-efficacy and total caregiver burden scores,as well as scores across individual dimensions.Results The total score for the Surrogate Decision-Making Scale(SDM-SES)was(15.08±3.05)points,with the following dimension scores:Decision Confidence(3.05±0.74)points,Decision Optimality(3.03±0.80)points,risk-benefit trade-offs(3.08±0.77)points,information access and utilization(3.04±0.76)points,and informed understanding of options(2.87±0.86)points.Comparative analysis of general characteristics between patients and caregivers revealed statistically significant differences in caregivers'SDM-SES scores across multiple dimensions(P<0.05),including patient admission duration,disease type,caregiver gender,age,education level,relationship to patient,and monthly household income per capita.Caregivers'total ZBI scores were(32.79±6.53)points,with role burden dimension scores of(11.72±3.11)points and personal burden dimension scores of(13.16±4.97)points.After grouping and comparing general patient and caregiver characteristics,statistically significant differences in caregivers'ZBI scores were observed across disease type,caregiver gender,age,education level,relationship to the patient,duration of caregiving,and monthly household income per capita(P<0.05).Pearson correlation analysis revealed significant negative correlations between self-efficacy and both the total ZBI score and scores across all dimensions(P<0.05).Conclusions There is a statistically significant interaction effect between self-efficacy and caregiver burden among surrogate decision-makers for neurosurgical inpatients,and both are jointly moderated by demographic,socioeconomic,and relational role factors.
Keywords：neurosurgeryhospitalized patientssurrogate decision-making self-efficacycaregiving burden
Publication Date：2025-12-28
Online Publishing Date：2025-12-02(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 140-144 )