title: The theory and measurement of the self-efficacy construct.
abstract: Self-efficacy is the major concept of Bandura's social cognitive theory. Self-efficacy is influenced by four important sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological information. Other determinants of self-efficacy are internal personal factors and external environmental factors. The degree of change in self-efficacy is partly a function of the variability and the controllability of its determinants. Level of self-efficacy predicts how people are functioning in terms of choice of behavior, effort expenditure and persistence, thought patterns and emotional reactions. Measurement of self-efficacy is related to three dimensions: magnitude, strength and generality. Self-efficacy should be measured in terms of particularized judgments of capability that may vary across realms of activity, different levels of task demands within a given activity domain, and different situational circumstances.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center, Utrecht, Division of Nursing Science, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van der Bijl
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Shortridge-Baggett
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D011582:Psychological Theory; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires