The association between a patient-centered quality of care index and self-efficacy among cancer survivors

The number of cancer survivors in the US surpassed 18.1 million in 2022 and this number continues to grow. Patient self-efficacy, a patient’s confidence in his or her ability to self-manage symptoms and healthcare concerns, has been linked to improved health outcomes. We thus set out to examine the association between a patient-centered care quality index and self-efficacy among cancer survivors.

Data from 777 survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers at 32 cancer centers nationwide were collected 6 months after an initial survivorship visit. Patients completed surveys assessing patient-centered care (36 items under seven factors) and individual self-efficacy (eight items). Multiple linear regression was used to examine the association between patient-centered care and patient self-efficacy, adjusting for demographics, cancer-related characteristics, and organizational characteristics of high-quality patient-centered survivorship care.

In descriptive analyses, there were no statistically significant differences in demographic or cancer-related characteristics between cancer survivors by quality of patient-centered care. In regression models, a one-unit increase in patient-centered care was associated with a 0.23 (95% CI 0.14–0.32) increase in mean self-efficacy compared to low quality of patient-centered care when adjusting for demographics, cancer-related characteristics, and indicators of high-quality survivorship care. Individually, four of the seven factors of quality patient-centered care were statistically significantly associated with greater self-efficacy. Having a medical home was associated with the greatest increase in self-efficacy among survivors.

Our findings indicate that higher quality patient-centered care is associated with greater cancer survivor self-efficacy. Given that self-efficacy is correlated with improved health outcomes and quality of life, this finding further supports the importance of high-quality patient-centered survivorship care.

High-quality patient-centered survivorship care was associated with higher patient self-efficacy. This association should further be explored among cancer survivors with diverse characteristics.