Self‐Efficacy, Decision‐Making, and Stages of Change: An Integrative Model of Physical Exercise¹

Abstract

Exercise has important health benefits but a large proportion of the population is physically inactive. We examined the stages of readiness to exercise and their relationship to self‐efficacy, the costs and benefits of exercising, and self‐report of physical activity in a sample of Rhode Island worksites. Using a three‐step model‐building approach, exploratory principal components analyses were followed by an examination of the stages of change model with confirmatory structural equation modeling procedures. The model was then examined with longitudinal data. Confirmatory and longitudinal analyses showed an excellent tit between the model and the data. Results indicated that the costs and benefits of exercise and self‐efficacy for exercise were related to physical activity only indirectly, through the mediation of stage of readiness to exercise. Structural modeling fit indices revealed that much of the variation and covariation in physical activity was explained by the model. There is the potential to enhance the impact of exercise interventions, by targeting them so as to address factors related to these different stages of readiness.

"Walk in to Work Out": a randomised controlled trial of a self help intervention to promote active commuting

“…Surprisingly, the processes of change, which are part of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, did not explain movement in active commuting behaviour change at six months. Other researchers 5 have been able to describe changes in process use over time but it has been recognised that the measurement of the processes of change for physical activity, which were modelled on those processes that were most frequently used in smoking cessation, does need to be improved. 4 It is suggested that the current instrument is not specific enough for active commuting.…”

Social identities in physical activity promotion for sedentary women

“…Higher exercise self-efficacy has indeed been found to be associated with advancement in stage of change (Marcus, Eaton, Rossi, & Harlow, 1994;Marcus & Owen, 1992), however, a recent meta-analysis of TTM studies in the exercise domain shows that the relationship is not linear. It appears that exercise selfefficacy is low in the early, pre-action stages, and increases to a moderate level at the later, action stages (Marshall & Biddle, 2001).…”

Construcción y validación de una escala de autoeficacia para la actividad física

“…Se ha encontrado que las personas con mayores niveles de autoeficacia 11 se comprometen con mayor frecuencia en un programa regular de actividad física que aquellas que tienen niveles más bajos de autoeficacia 12 . Los individuos con alta autoeficacia tienen sentimientos mucho más fuertes de efectividad para realizar el ejercicio y para comprometerse a realizar una mayor cantidad de actividad física que los individuos que la tienen baja.…”