A TEST OF BANDURA'S SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY: PREDICTING EXERCISE BEHAVIOR (SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY).
Contributors: Indiana University School of Nursing.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 262
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Psychology, Social.; Health Sciences, Public Health.
Description: Engaging in regular exercise is a factor in illness prevention, illness management, and health promotion. The purpose of this study was to examine whether efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, and emotional arousal, concepts from the Social Cognitive Theory, significantly predicted exercise behavior of nurses. Exercise was defined by the parameters of frequency, duration, and intensity.

The sample consisted of 215 registered nurses who were currently exercising and employed at seven area institutions. Demographic information was also gathered from a group of registered nurses (n = 192) employed at the same institutions who did not currently exercise to allow for comparison with the exercising respondents on extraneous variables.

The Modified Self-Care Behavior Instrument was explored using factor analysis with both alpha and principal components extractions. Two distinct factors, that could be identified as efficacy expectations and outcome expectations, accounted for 24.7% and 7.1%, respectively, of the variance in the data. Internal consistency reliabilities, examined using Cronbach's alpha, were estimated as.92 and.75 for the efficacy expectations and the outcome expectations scales, respectively.

Intervening variables of age, weight, height, and gender did not appear to influence the independent or dependent variables. Significant findings based on groups defined by employing institution were found and the meaning of the findings needs to be investigated further.

Standard multiple regression analyses indicated that efficacy expectations predicted a small amount of variance in the single parameters of exercise, frequency, duration, and intensity, but were a stronger predictor of a combined indicator of exercise. Efficacy expectations predicted twelve percent of the variance in the combined exercise behavior score.

This study provided empirical support for efficacy expectations predicting exercise activity as proposed in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. The lack of significant findings related to outcome expectations may reflect the multidimensional nature of the concept or the lack of outcome specificity in the instrument items.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: B, page: 0748.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1993.

School code: 0815.