Cross-Cultural Validation of the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and its Application to Recovering Substance Abuse Recovery Interventions

Self-efficacy is a universal construct that can be defined as a person’s mental capacity to deal efficiently and effectively with stressful situations (Luszczynska, Scholz, Schwarzer 2005: 439). It is one of the key theories in the social cognitive theory and it is considered important due to its significant provision of benefits to individuals in clinical settings. For example, combining self-efficacy with currently used interventions can benefit drug-abusing population. Firstly, self-efficacy is factor that promotes positive health behaviors (Posadzki, Stockl, Musanda, Tsouroufli 2010). Secondly, self-efficacy provides adaptive coping strategies (Boehmer, Luszczynska, Schwarzer 2007). Thirdly, self-efficacy plays a critical role in cognitive, affective, selective, and motivational processes of the brain (Bandura 1994). Thus, by enhancing self-efficacy beliefs, abusers could be motivated to think about ceasing the drug usage and it influence them to select effective and adaptive coping strategies. Similarly, through a scale that measures self-efficacy, a person’s willingness to manage or curb the drug usage can be identified. Through that the low efficacious individuals can be taught to inculcate beliefs of efficacy as high efficaciousness is negatively correlated with the likelihood to relapse (Nevid 2013: 498).

The present study is focused on the adaptation and the validation of the generalized self-efficacy scale (GSES) to Sinhala speaking 18 to 30 year old individuals in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted as an attempt to reap the benefits mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The current study used 260 randomly selected individuals as its participants. According to the obtained data, the newly devised Sinhala version of the generalized self-efficacy scale demonstrated a reliability of alpha .81. Content and consensual validity was obtained for this study through the Delphi process. After obtaining reliability and validity, the significant components of the scale were extracted through the principal component analysis. The results indicated one significant factor confirming the unidimensionality of the scale. In conclusion, the scale demonstrated psychometric properties satisfactorily. Further, the scale can be used to assess self-efficacy of individuals between ages 18 to 30 years in both clinical and non-clinical settings.

References

Bandura, A. (1994) Self-efficacy. In V.S. Ramachandran (ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, Volume 4, New York, NY: Academic Press, 71-81.

Boehmer, S., Luszczynska, A., Schwarzer, R. (2007) Coping and Quality of Life After Tumor Surgery: Personal and Social Resources Promote Different Domains of Quality of Life. Anxiety, Stress, Coping. 20(1), 61-75.

Luszczynska, A., Scholz, U., Schwarzer, R. (2005) The General Self-efficacy Scale: Multicultural Validation Studies, The Journal of Psychology, 139(5), 439-457.

Nevid, J, S. (2013) Personality. Psychology: Concepts and Application. 4th edn. USA: Wadsworth. 478-517.

Posadzki, P., Stockli, A., Musanda, P., Tsouroufli, M. (2010) A Mixed-Method Approach to Sense of Coherence, Health Behaviors, Self-Efficacy, and Optimism: Towards the Operationalization of Positive Health Attitudes. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 246-252.

 *Contact the author to obtain the Sinhala version of the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (S-GSES).

*This is an abstract

*Presented at the International Recovery Symposium held on 12th October at Jaic Hilton by the Colombo Plan.