Marie Jelena Jonitz Vica, Shrestha Akina, Luginbuehl Helena, Kasaju Aastha, Scarnato Chiara, Meierhofer Regula, Inauen Jennifer
Department of Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
J Health Psychol. 2025 Jul;30(8):2013-2029. doi: 10.1177/13591053241283945. Epub 2024 Oct 30.
Carrying heavy loads increases the risk of pelvic organ disorders, particularly in low-income countries. Low self-efficacy hampers adoption of pelvic-floor-protective behaviors. The enabling hypothesis suggests that social support may strengthen women's behavioral self-efficacy. A three-arm parallel non-randomized controlled trial with 300 women and their social partners experimentally examined whether self-efficacy and social support can enable women's pelvic-floor-protective behaviors in rural Nepal. Three villages received (1) self-efficacy (2) self-efficacy and social support promotion, or (3) information only control. The co-primary outcomes were reduced weight carried and using protective lifting techniques at 2-month follow-up. Self-efficacy promotion increased the use of protective lifting techniques 9% more than information only ( = 0.28). Weight was reduced by 3 kg more when additionally promoting social support compared to self-efficacy alone ( = 0.39). Self-efficacy and social support promotion enable women to better protect their pelvic floor health and may complement educational approaches to health behavior change in low-resource populations.
负重会增加盆腔器官疾病的风险,在低收入国家尤其如此。自我效能感低会阻碍盆底保护行为的采用。赋能假说表明,社会支持可能会增强女性的行为自我效能感。一项针对300名女性及其社会伴侣的三臂平行非随机对照试验,通过实验研究了自我效能感和社会支持是否能促使尼泊尔农村地区的女性采取盆底保护行为。三个村庄分别接受了(1)自我效能感提升、(2)自我效能感和社会支持提升,或(3)仅提供信息的对照措施。共同主要结局指标是在2个月随访时减轻负重以及采用保护性提举技术。与仅提供信息相比,自我效能感提升使保护性提举技术的采用率提高了9%(=0.28)。与仅提升自我效能感相比,额外提升社会支持时负重减轻了3千克(=0.39)。自我效能感和社会支持的提升使女性能够更好地保护盆底健康,并且可能补充低资源人群中促进健康行为改变的教育方法。