The effect of dyspnea and fatigue on self-efficacy level in chronic obstructive pulmonary patients

Objective: This research was conducted descriptively to determine the impact of dyspnea and fatigue on self-efficacy levels in patients with COPD. Method: The research was carried out with 204 COPD patients hospitalized in October 2021- October 2022 the Chest Diseases Service of the Antalya Kepez State Hospital, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey. The study used Personal Information Form, COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale, mMRC Dyspnea Scale, Dyspnea-12 Scale, and COPD Self-Efficacy Scale for data collection. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SAS version 9.4. Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables, numbers and percentages for qualitative variables were used to analyze the data. Results: It was determined that 62.7% of the patients were male, 63.7% were aged 66 and over, 34.8% were primary school graduates, 51% were diagnosed with COPD less than 5 years and 35.8% were in GOLD II stage. 63.7% of the patients had severe and very severe mMRC dyspnea levels, Dyspnea-12 Scale mean score was 24.09±8.13, COPD-Asthma Fatigue Scale mean score was 64.17±16.27, dyspnea and fatigue levels were high. It has been ascertained that the mean score of the COPD Self-Efficacy Scale is 2.23±0.85 and that the self-efficacy levels of the patients are low. While there was a strong positive relationship between dyspnea and fatigue levels, a strong negative relationship was found between self-efficacy and dyspnea and fatigue levels (p<0.05). The study concluded that dyspnea and fatigue negatively impacted self-efficacy levels. Conclusion: The study found that increasing dyspnea and fatigue levels in COPD patients led to a decrease in their self-efficacy levels. In order to improve the self-efficacy levels of patients with COPD, it's recommended to plan appropriate nursing interventions to reduce dyspnea and fatigue levels and to increase research in this area.