Porcelain Publishing / HNP / Volume 2 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.47297/ppihnp2026020104
ARTICLE

Relationship of Social Support and Health-related Quality of Life in Patients with Type A Aortic Dissection Post-surgery: The Mediating Role of Self-efficacy

Lijun Sun1,2 Yiheng Zhang3,4 Guo Ge4 Qiuying Liao4 Liangyan Xu1,2 Jiajia Xu1,2 Yaping Guan1,2 Ruie Chen1,2 Weiliang Zheng2,5*
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1 Department of Critical Care Medicine, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen 361006, Fujian, China
2 Fujian Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Xiamen 361006, Fujian, China
3 School of Nursing, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong, China
4 The First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong, China
5 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen 361006, Fujian, China
Published: 20 March 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore whether self-efficacy can mediate the association of social support with physical and mental health in health-related quality of life among Type A aortic dissection patients post-surgery. Methods: A cross ‐ sectional study was conducted among 216 Type A aortic dissection patients who underwent surgery from June 2021 to May 2023. Data were collected using the Social Support Rating Scale, Self-efficacy for Chronic Disease 6-item Scale, and Short Form 36 Questionnaire. Asymptotic and resampling strategies were used to explore the mediating role of self-efficacy. Results: Self-efficacy partially mediated the association between support utilization and physical health (a*b=0.29, 95% bootstrap CI: [0.03, 0.70]) and mental health (a*b=0.36, 95% bootstrap CI: [0.06, 0.80]). The proportions of the mediating effect accounting for self-efficacy were 20.10% and 17.81% for physical health and mental health, respectively. Conclusion: The study showed that self-efficacy could mediate the association between support utilization of social support and health-related quality of life. This suggests that self-efficacy appears to be an important target for intervention in improving the health-related quality of life of Type A aortic dissection patients after surgery.

Keywords
Type A aortic dissection
Health-related quality of life
Social support
Self-efficacy
Funding
This work was supported by the Xiamen Healthcare Guidance Program (3502Z20209148).
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