Outcome Expectancy
Outcome expectancy is the expectation that
a behavior will produce a set of outcomes, i.e., the belief
that a given action will lead to a defined result, whether
beneficial or not (Bandura,
1982,x
Close
Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency.
American Psychologist, 37(2), 122-147. 1997x
Close
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control.
New York: W.H. Freeman.; DeVries,
Dijkstra, & Kok, 1989x
Close
DeVries, H., Dijkstra, M., & Kok, G. J. (1989). Self-efficacy
as a determinant of the onset of smoking and interventions
to prevent smoking in adolescents.; Hofstetter,
Sallis, & Hovell, 1990x
Close
Hofstetter, C. R., Sallis, J. F., & Hovell, M. F. (1990).
Some health dimensions of self-efficacy: analysis of theoretical
specificity. Soc Sci Med, 31(9), 1051-1056.). This
dimension overlaps with perceived benefits in that the likelihood
that a person will pursue a given course of action is dependent
upon the expectation that a behavior will produce a desired
result (benefit).
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief that a person
has the ability to complete an action. The concept was originally
defined as a judgment about personal capability (Bandura,
1986x
Close
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action:
A social cognitive theory. In (pp. 390-449). Engelwood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall.), and later conceptualized as a
person's belief that he or she has the ability to exercise
control over a set of skills needed to complete a specific
task (Maddux
et al., 1995x
Close
Maddux, J. F., Ingram, J. M., & Desmond, D. P. (1995).
Reliability of two brief questionnaires for drug abuse treatment
evaluation. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse, 21(2), 209-221.).
Self-efficacy is clearly different than perceived benefits,
in that an individual may believe that smoking cessation will
reduce the risk of developing lung cancer (perceived benefit),
but not believe that he/she is able to quit (perceived self-efficacy).
One feature that measures of self-efficacy and perceived benefits
have in common, however, is the distinction between general
and domain-specific measures - it has been demonstrated that
both domain-specific measures of self-efficacy (e.g., "I am
capable of quitting smoking") and domain-specific measures
of benefits (e.g., "If I quit smoking I will decrease the
likelihood that I will have lung cancer") predict better than
measures assessing a general sense of being efficacious (e.g.,
"I am a person who usually succeeds at meeting my goals"),
or benefits in general (e.g., "If I quit smoking, my health
will improve"; Bandura,
1982x
Close
Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency.
American Psychologist, 37(2), 122-147.; DeVries
et al., 1989x
Close
DeVries, H., Dijkstra, M., & Kok, G. J. (1989). Self-efficacy
as a determinant of the onset of smoking and interventions
to prevent smoking in adolescents.; Meyerowitz
& Chaiken, 1987x
Close
Meyerowitz, B. E., & Chaiken, S. (1987). The effect of
message framing on breast self-examination attitudes, intentions,
and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
52(3), 500-510.).
Fatalism
Fatalism is the belief that an individual
has no control over events related to a cancer occurrence.
Powe identified fatalism as including perceptions of hopelessness,
worthlessness, meaninglessness, powerlessness and social despair
and applied it to cancer; thus, conceptually it is the opposite
of thinking that one's actions can be responsible for accruing
benefits. More specifically, in the area of health, benefits
are positive attributes associated with a health action and
fatalism is a perception that there are no benefits associated
with any action related to the disease. Thus, fatalism does
not refer to a specific behavior but rather to the belief
that nothing can be done to change a negative outcome. This
construct has been applied to cancer screening as the perception
that cancer is beyond the individual's control, thus, there
would be no benefit to screening (Powe,
1995x
Close
Powe, B. D. (1995). Fatalism among elderly African Americans:
effects on colorectal cancer screening. Cancer Nursing, 18(5),
385-392.; Powe
& Weinrich, 1999x
Close
Powe, B. D., & Weinrich, S. (1999). An intervention to
decrease cancer fatalism among rural elders. Oncology Nursing
Forum, 26(3), 583-588.; Sugarek,
Deyo, & Holmes, 1988x
Close
Sugarek, N. J., Deyo, R. A., & Holmes, B. C. (1988). Locus
of control and beliefs about cancer in a multi-ethnic clinic
population. Oncology Nursing Forum, 15(4), 481-486.;
Underwood,
1992x
Close
Underwood, S. (1992). Cancer risk reduction and early detection
behaviors among Black men: Focus on learned helplessness.
Journal of Community Health Nursing, 9(1), 21-31.).
|
