Applications To Health
How the Social Cognitive Theory is Applied to Health:
The Social Cognitive Theory can be applied to health and health promotion through its focus on personality development and behavior pathology in order to understand an individual's reality construct (3). The theory is used to explain how different people acquire and maintain behavioral problems by dealing with the cognitive and emotional aspects of behavior. These aspects help provide explanations to individual's behavior and personality, thus providing insight on how the individual's behavior can be altered. The concepts of the theory provide ways for new behavioral research in health education.
The Theory uses knowledge (of the health risks and benefits), perceived self-efficacy (that one can exercise control over one's health habits), outcome expectations (expected costs and benefits), goals (health goals), and, lastly, perceived knowledge of health risks and benefits (create the precondition of the desired change) (5). In other words, people need to have knowledge on how their lifestyle, for example, affects their life, before starting to make a plan to change it. However, knowledge alone is simply not enough to cause an individual to change. Self-Efficacy is a key factor in health behavior change and it focuses mainly on whether or not the individual believes he/she has the ability to go through with the change (4). Thirdly, outcome expectations also help influence health behavior. The expectations an individual has on the change help the individual to decide on personal standards and regulate their behavior through the method of self-evaluation in regards to reactions. However, as Bandura studied in his experiments, environmental influences also need to be considered due to their limiting factors. Together, these influences have created a framework that is currently the dominant version used in health promotion and behavior.
The Social Cognitive Theory Specific Application to Health Examples:
There are numerous ways in which the Social Cognitive Theory has been specifically applied to health behavior or health promotion. Some methods deal with direct illnesses while others deal with general health behaviors such as the following;
- i.e Reducing alcohol consumption among students grades 6-12;
This program focused on behavioral health curricula, parental involvement and community task force activities (5). In this particular
application, the SCT was used in terms of figuring out the necessary intervention method. This case showed that after 10th grade, the
community norms had to be changed in order to see a significant difference. As a result, the study concluded that community norms played a
significant role in changing the environment and expectancies to alcohol consumption.
- i.e AIDS prevention to inner city teenagers;
In this example, researchers rely on the SCT to increase teenagers' self-efficacy, identify with a recognizable peer, and imitate the observed
actions. In this way, researchers hope that teenagers learn proper prevention methods and gain more knowledge on AIDS, thus increasing
the overall community awareness and thus, decreasing the amount of AIDS cases. (6)
-i.e encode situations in regards to health and wellness, health risk and vulnerabilities, and illness and diseases.
In this aspect, psychologists use the SCT to understand what causes health risk, vulnerabilities, illness, and diseases.
-i.e lists strategies and for processing potential health threats and dangers self-directed change.
The SCT in this case is used to come up with different interventions and methods that allow researcher's to change a behavior.
** In many cases, the same model can be used for different behaviors. In order for this to work, certain aspects need to be modified to fit the changing behavior. It is important to first understand that the theory creates concepts and procedures from cognitive, behavioral, and emotional models of behavior change (8). Thus, it is not only important to address the correct concept and procedure, but to also address the construct that is most significant in the desired behavioral change (2). For example, in the study done on reducing alcohol consumption among students grades 6-12, it became evident that the model needed to be altered for students past 10th grade, focusing mainly on social norms. Thus, due to the behavioral differences of the older students, more emphasis was placed on involving the community and created more community norms in order for the model to help change the behavior of the older students.
As is also seen with the rest of the examples, similar models were used to address completely different behaviors. The only difference, however, was the method of intervention which depended on which construct was most significant in the causation of the undesired behavior.
Currently, psychologists use the Social Cognitive Theory to conduct specific research focused on altering desired behaviors. Below are some examples of research conducted to examine different health behaviors.
1. Physical Activity During Breast Cancer Treatment
2. Social Anxiety and Drinking in College Students
3. Cancer Patients' Quality of Life
4. Physical Activity in Iranian Women
Sources:
1) Hayden, J. (2009). Introduction to health behavior theory (2nd ed., pp. 173-199). Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.2) Health Belief Model. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ithaca.edu/HPHMComputer/HealthBehaviorModels.pdf
3) SAGE (n.d.). Health Education and Behavior. Retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://heb.sagepub.com/content/15/2/175.full.pdf+html
4)IDEA » Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.idea.org/blog/2006/06/01/social-cognitive-theory-sct/
5)Bandura, A. (n.d.). Health Promotion from the Perspective of Social Cognitive Theory. Retrieved from http://exordio.qfb.umich.mx/archivos%20pdf%20de%20trabajo%20umsnh/aphilosofia/2007/NEUROPSICOLOGIA/BanHealthPro.pdf5)U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (n.d.). Theory At A Glance. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/cancerlibrary/theory.pdf
6)Social Cognitive Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Health%20Communication/Social_cognitive_theory/
7)Social cognitive theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognitive_theory
8) Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation N. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Bandura/Bandura1999PR.pdf
The Social Cognitive Theory can be applied to health and health promotion through its focus on personality development and behavior pathology in order to understand an individual's reality construct (3). The theory is used to explain how different people acquire and maintain behavioral problems by dealing with the cognitive and emotional aspects of behavior. These aspects help provide explanations to individual's behavior and personality, thus providing insight on how the individual's behavior can be altered. The concepts of the theory provide ways for new behavioral research in health education.
The Theory uses knowledge (of the health risks and benefits), perceived self-efficacy (that one can exercise control over one's health habits), outcome expectations (expected costs and benefits), goals (health goals), and, lastly, perceived knowledge of health risks and benefits (create the precondition of the desired change) (5). In other words, people need to have knowledge on how their lifestyle, for example, affects their life, before starting to make a plan to change it. However, knowledge alone is simply not enough to cause an individual to change. Self-Efficacy is a key factor in health behavior change and it focuses mainly on whether or not the individual believes he/she has the ability to go through with the change (4). Thirdly, outcome expectations also help influence health behavior. The expectations an individual has on the change help the individual to decide on personal standards and regulate their behavior through the method of self-evaluation in regards to reactions. However, as Bandura studied in his experiments, environmental influences also need to be considered due to their limiting factors. Together, these influences have created a framework that is currently the dominant version used in health promotion and behavior.
The Social Cognitive Theory Specific Application to Health Examples:
There are numerous ways in which the Social Cognitive Theory has been specifically applied to health behavior or health promotion. Some methods deal with direct illnesses while others deal with general health behaviors such as the following;
- i.e Reducing alcohol consumption among students grades 6-12;
This program focused on behavioral health curricula, parental involvement and community task force activities (5). In this particular
application, the SCT was used in terms of figuring out the necessary intervention method. This case showed that after 10th grade, the
community norms had to be changed in order to see a significant difference. As a result, the study concluded that community norms played a
significant role in changing the environment and expectancies to alcohol consumption.
- i.e AIDS prevention to inner city teenagers;
In this example, researchers rely on the SCT to increase teenagers' self-efficacy, identify with a recognizable peer, and imitate the observed
actions. In this way, researchers hope that teenagers learn proper prevention methods and gain more knowledge on AIDS, thus increasing
the overall community awareness and thus, decreasing the amount of AIDS cases. (6)
-i.e encode situations in regards to health and wellness, health risk and vulnerabilities, and illness and diseases.
In this aspect, psychologists use the SCT to understand what causes health risk, vulnerabilities, illness, and diseases.
-i.e lists strategies and for processing potential health threats and dangers self-directed change.
The SCT in this case is used to come up with different interventions and methods that allow researcher's to change a behavior.
** In many cases, the same model can be used for different behaviors. In order for this to work, certain aspects need to be modified to fit the changing behavior. It is important to first understand that the theory creates concepts and procedures from cognitive, behavioral, and emotional models of behavior change (8). Thus, it is not only important to address the correct concept and procedure, but to also address the construct that is most significant in the desired behavioral change (2). For example, in the study done on reducing alcohol consumption among students grades 6-12, it became evident that the model needed to be altered for students past 10th grade, focusing mainly on social norms. Thus, due to the behavioral differences of the older students, more emphasis was placed on involving the community and created more community norms in order for the model to help change the behavior of the older students.
As is also seen with the rest of the examples, similar models were used to address completely different behaviors. The only difference, however, was the method of intervention which depended on which construct was most significant in the causation of the undesired behavior.
Currently, psychologists use the Social Cognitive Theory to conduct specific research focused on altering desired behaviors. Below are some examples of research conducted to examine different health behaviors.
1. Physical Activity During Breast Cancer Treatment
2. Social Anxiety and Drinking in College Students
3. Cancer Patients' Quality of Life
4. Physical Activity in Iranian Women
Sources:
1) Hayden, J. (2009). Introduction to health behavior theory (2nd ed., pp. 173-199). Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.2) Health Belief Model. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ithaca.edu/HPHMComputer/HealthBehaviorModels.pdf
3) SAGE (n.d.). Health Education and Behavior. Retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://heb.sagepub.com/content/15/2/175.full.pdf+html
4)IDEA » Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.idea.org/blog/2006/06/01/social-cognitive-theory-sct/
5)Bandura, A. (n.d.). Health Promotion from the Perspective of Social Cognitive Theory. Retrieved from http://exordio.qfb.umich.mx/archivos%20pdf%20de%20trabajo%20umsnh/aphilosofia/2007/NEUROPSICOLOGIA/BanHealthPro.pdf5)U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (n.d.). Theory At A Glance. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/cancerlibrary/theory.pdf
6)Social Cognitive Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Health%20Communication/Social_cognitive_theory/
7)Social cognitive theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognitive_theory
8) Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation N. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Bandura/Bandura1999PR.pdf