Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T09:10:09.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Self-efficacy in health functioning

from Psychology, health and illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2014

By
Albert Bandura
Edited by
Susan Ayers ,
Andrew Baum ,
Chris McManus ,
Stanton Newman ,
Kenneth Wallston ,
John Weinman  and
Robert West
Albert Bandura
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Susan Ayers
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
Andrew Baum
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Chris McManus
Affiliation:
St Mary's Hospital Medical School
Stanton Newman
Affiliation:
University College and Middlesex School of Medicine
Kenneth Wallston
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
John Weinman
Affiliation:
United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's
Robert West
Affiliation:
St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London
Get access

Summary

We are witnessing a divergent trend in the field of health. On the one hand, we are pouring massive resources into medicalizing the ravages of detrimental health habits. On the other hand, the conception of health is shifting from a disease model to a health model. It emphasizes health promotion rather than disease management.

Health promotion should begin with goals not means. If health is the goal, biomedical interventions are not the only means to it. The quality of health is heavily influenced by lifestyle habits. This enables people to exercise some control over their health. To stay healthy, people should exercise, reduce dietary fat, refrain from smoking, keep blood pressure down and develop effective ways of managing stressors. By managing their health habits, people can live longer, healthier and retard the process of ageing. Self-management is good medicine. If the huge benefits of these few habits were put into a pill it would be declared a scientific milestone in the field of medicine.

Current health practices focus heavily on the medical supply side. The growing pressure on health systems is to reduce, ration and curtail health services to contain escalating health costs. The days for the supply side health system are limited. People are living longer. This creates more time for minor dysfunctions to develop into chronic diseases requiring costly treatments.

Social cognitive approaches focus on the demand side. They promote effective self-management of health habits that will keep people healthy through their life span.

Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine , pp. 191 - 193
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. (1991). Self-efficacy mechanism in physiological activation and health-promoting behavior. In Madden, J. IV (Ed.). Neurobiology of learning, emotion and affect, (pp. 229–69). New York: Raven.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
Bandura, A. (2000). Psychological aspects of prognostic judgments. In Evans, R. W., Baskin, D. S. & Yatsu, F. M. (Eds.). Prognosis of neurological disorders (2nd edn.). (pp. 11–27). New York: Oxford University Press.
Bandura, A. (2004). Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Education and Behavior, 31, 143–64.Google Scholar
Dienstbier, R. A. (1989). Arousal and physiological toughness: implications for mental and physical health. Psychological Review, 96, 84–100.Google Scholar
Holman, H. & Lorig, K. (1992). Perceived self-efficacy in self-management of chronic disease. In Schwarzer, R. (Ed.). Self-efficacy: thought control of action, (pp. 305–23) Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. & Glaser, R. (1987). Behavioural influences on 8 immunme functions: evidence for the interplay between stress and health. In Field, T., McCabe, P. M. & Schneiderman, N. (Eds.). Stress and coping across development, Vol. 2, (pp. 189–206). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Krantz, D. S., Grunberg, N. E. & Baum, A. (1985). Health psychology. Annual Reviews in Psychology, 36, 349–83.Google Scholar
Maier, S. F., Laudenslager, M. L. & Ryan, S. M. (1985). Stressor controllability, immune function, and endogenous opiates. In Brush, F. R. & Overmier, J. B. (Eds.). Affect, conditioning, and cognition: essays on the determinants of behaviour (pp. 183–201). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Marlatt, G. A., Baer, J. S. & Quigley, L. A. (1995). Self-efficacy and addictive behavior. In Bandura, A. (Ed.). Self-efficacy in changing societies, (pp. 289–315). New York: Cambridge University Press.
O'Leary, A. (1990). Stress, emotion, and human immune function. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 363–82.Google Scholar
Schneiderman, N., McCabe, P. M. & Baum, A. (Eds.). (1992). Stress and disease process: perspectives in behavioral medicine. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Shavit, Y. & Martin, F. C. (1987). Opiates, stress, and immunity: animal studies. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 9, 11–20.Google Scholar
Wallack, L., Dorfman, L., Jernigan, D. & Themba, M. (1993). Media advocacy and public health: power for prevention. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×