Health literacy and self-efficacy as predictors of self-care behaviors in patients with hematological malignancies: A multicenter cross-sectional study in northeastern Thailand.
- 1Faculty of Nursing, Roi Et Rajabhat University, Roi Et, Thailand.
- 2Faculty of Nursing, Udon Thani Rajabhat University, Udon Thani, Thailand.
- 3Ubon Ratchathani Cancer Hospital, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.
Abstract
Background
Self-care is vital for patients with hematological malignancies (HMs) to manage the severe side effects of chemotherapy. While social support is a traditional focus of care, internal psychological resources may be more critical for sustaining treatment adherence in isolated therapeutic settings.Objective
To determine the prevalence of self-care behaviors and evaluate the extent to which health literacy and self-efficacy predict these behaviors among patients with HMs in northeastern Thailand.Methods
This multicenter, cross-sectional study, conducted from August to December 2025, utilized convenience sampling to recruit 350 patients with HMs from three tertiary hospitals in northeastern Thailand. Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The predictive model's performance was evaluated using the Area Under the Curve (AUC), with significance set at p < 0.05.Results
The prevalence of high self-care behaviors was 61.2% (95% CI = 55.8-66.3). Bivariable analysis showed that social support was initially associated with higher self-care. However, binary logistic regression identified only health literacy (AOR = 18.05, 95% CI = 14.40-20.10) and self-efficacy (AOR = 10.79, 95% CI = 5.70-11.40) as significant independent predictors. Social support did not remain a significant predictor in the final model. The model exhibited excellent discriminant ability with an AUC of 0.86 (95% CI = 0.78-0.91, p < 0.001).Conclusion
High self-care behaviors are common among patients with HMs in northeastern Thailand. Our results show that internal factors, specifically health literacy and self-efficacy, are stronger predictors of self-care than external social support in this treatment-intensive context. These findings underscore the need for oncology nurses to screen for both health literacy and self-efficacy during clinical assessments, enabling early identification of at-risk patients and delivery of targeted interventions to promote effective self-management.
Related
- Vaccination of patients with hematological malignancies: barriers and strategies to improve uptake
- Correlates of Caregiver Burden Among Informal Caregivers of Patients With Hematological Malignancies: The Roles of Coping, Resilience, and Perceived Social Support
- Social Inequalities, Geographical Accessibility to Care, and Excess Mortality for Patients With Hematological Malignancies in France: Results From French Cancer Registries
- Prophylaxis Strategies for SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection in Adults With Hematological Malignancies in Saudi Arabia: Consensus Statements From the Working Group on COVID‐19 Management in Hematological Malignancies
- CAR T-Cell Therapy in Hematological Malignancies: Mechanisms, Innovations, and Challenges
BibTeX
@article{summart2026health,
title = {{Health literacy and self-efficacy as predictors of self-care behaviors in patients with hematological malignancies: A multicenter cross-sectional study in northeastern Thailand.}},
author = {Ueamporn Summart and Monthida Sangruangake and Chanathip Halak and Phawadee Thongnopkhun Toyn},
journal = {Belitung nursing journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.33546/bnj.4641},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909282},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Health literacy and self-efficacy as predictors of self-care behaviors in patients with hematological malignancies: A multicenter cross-sectional study in northeastern Thailand.
AU - Ueamporn Summart
AU - Monthida Sangruangake
AU - Chanathip Halak
AU - Phawadee Thongnopkhun Toyn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Belitung nursing journal
DO - 10.33546/bnj.4641
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909282
AB - Background Self-care is vital for patients with hematological malignancies (HMs) to manage the severe side effects of chemotherapy. While social support is a traditional focus of care, internal psychological resources may be more critical for sustaining treatment adherence in isolated therapeutic settings.Objective To determine the prevalence of self-care behaviors and evaluate the extent to which health literacy and self-efficacy predict these behaviors among patients with HMs in northeastern Thailand.Methods This multicenter, cross-sectional study, conducted from August to December 2025, utilized convenience sampling to recruit 350 patients with HMs from three tertiary hospitals in northeastern Thailand. Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The predictive model's performance was evaluated using the Area Under the Curve (AUC), with significance set at p < 0.05.Results The prevalence of high self-care behaviors was 61.2% (95% CI = 55.8-66.3). Bivariable analysis showed that social support was initially associated with higher self-care. However, binary logistic regression identified only health literacy (AOR = 18.05, 95% CI = 14.40-20.10) and self-efficacy (AOR = 10.79, 95% CI = 5.70-11.40) as significant independent predictors. Social support did not remain a significant predictor in the final model. The model exhibited excellent discriminant ability with an AUC of 0.86 (95% CI = 0.78-0.91, p < 0.001).Conclusion High self-care behaviors are common among patients with HMs in northeastern Thailand. Our results show that internal factors, specifically health literacy and self-efficacy, are stronger predictors of self-care than external social support in this treatment-intensive context. These findings underscore the need for oncology nurses to screen for both health literacy and self-efficacy during clinical assessments, enabling early identification of at-risk patients and delivery of targeted interventions to promote effective self-management.
SN - 2528-181X
SN - 2477-4073
ER -