Perceptions of self-efficacy, everyday stress, and symptoms of anxiety and depression among traumatized women in comprehensive treatment

<b>Background:</b> Experience of trauma may cause serious consequences for mental health and self-image. Self-efficacy and perceptions of everyday stress have shown to impact mental health in a great manner. The aim of this study was to explore the longitudinal effects of a 12-week comprehensive treatment programme, including physical exercise, nutrition, social training, and psychoeducation, in addition to traditional psychopharmacology and psychotherapy, on self-efficacy, hassles and uplifts, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in traumatized women in a clinical context.<b>Method:</b> Forty-eight female inpatients with a mean age of 43.7 years (<i>SD</i> = 10.7) receiving psychiatric treatment in a Norwegian psychiatric clinic participated in the longitudinal study. Patients responded to the questionnaires General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the Stress Profile (hassles and uplifts), and the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-10) at three points in time: at baseline, at the end of treatment, and three months after treatment. As the data were not normally distributed, non-parametric tests for dependent samples were used to analyse the data. However, as the residuals were considered normally distributed, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted.<b>Results:</b> All instruments, except for uplifts, showed significant changes during treatment, e.g. self-efficacy increased from 25.0 to 26.0, <i>p</i> = .036. A hierarchical regression conducted at baseline, with symptoms of psychological distress as the dependent variable, and age, self-efficacy, hassles, and uplifts as predictors, showed that self-efficacy was a significant predictor. At three months after treatment, the same hierarchical regression model revealed that all included predictors except age were significant, and the total variance explained by the model was 61.6 percent.<b>Conclusion:</b> Three months after completed treatment the results indicated associations between an increase in self-efficacy, a reduced frequency of daily hassles and a higher frequency of daily uplifts and a reduction in psychological distress.