A TEST OF BANDURA'S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY: PREDICTING ADJUSTMENT TO CHRONIC PHYSICAL DISABILITY.
Contributors: Indiana University School of Nursing.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 169
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The study tested an aspect of Bandura's Social Learning Theory (SLT): did the constructs of self-efficacy and outcome expectations predict the behavior of adjustment to chronic disability. The effects of observation and modeling on self-efficacy and outcome expectations were also explored.

A sample of 178 respondents who had a disability due to multiple sclerosis, arthritis, or cardiac disease completed the study instruments at clinic sites and support group meetings. Four instruments were used: Bell Disability Scale of Adjustment (BDSA), Self-efficacy for Adjustment Behaviors, Outcome Expectancy Scale, and a personal inventory for demographic and support group information.

Prior to hypothesis testing, factor analyses were conducted to explore construct validity for all instruments. Reliabilities employing Cronbach's alpha were acceptable. The F-MAX statistic was employed to demonstrate homogeneity. Scales were homogeneous across the study sample. Identification of possible intervening variables using ANOVAs indicated that support group membership and diagnosis were confounding variables. They were entered into all regression equations to control for their effect.

Hypothesis testing demonstrated that (1) self-efficacy was a better predictor of adjustment to chronic disability than outcome expectations, (2) selected demographic variables in combination with self-efficacy and outcome expectations significantly increased explained variance in adjustment, and (3) support group respondents had significantly higher outcome expectations that clinic respondents. The influence of diagnosis and severity of disability were apparent in the analyses.

The findings were probably atenuated due to the limitations of the BDSA in measuring adjustment. The BDSA factors only accounted for 27% of the variance in scale items and had low correlations with construct validity items. The importance of outcome expectations for the cardiac respondents may represent differences in clients with potentially fatal versus non-fatal chronic illnesses or be a function of the sample.

The results of this study provide empirical support for Bandura's SLT in predicting adjustment behavior. Further refinement of the instruments is necessary before they can be added to the body of assessment tools useful in nursing. Replication studies are needed to enhance the generalizability of these results with diverse chronic disabilities.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-01, Section: B, page: 0128.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1987.

School code: 0815.