answer 587
Increasing physical activity
1- Discuss how your group used the SCT to address your health issue. What were your biggest
challenges to using this model? When do you think this model may be the most effective?
Emma
RE: SCT
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Our group was given the topic of physical activity. The SCT is very effective in targeting this health behavior as the theory focuses on targeting the individuals self-efficacy, setting goals, and the expected outcomes from changing the behavior. To target the concepts of this theory, we said:
Reciprocal Determinism: Change environment by incorporating physical activity in desk-work through a standing podium or even the treadmills with desks.
Behavioral Capability: Train skills by participating in workout classes or watching exercise videos.
Expectations: Find peers that live healthy lives and find ways to incorporate physical activity into daily living.
Self-efficacy: Create change slowly. Rather than shooting for the goal of exercising 7 days a week immediately, begin with the goal of 3 days.
Observational Learning: Find a role-model, maybe a fitness instructure.
Reinforcements: Reward the behavior with buying workout clothes or other inspiring items.
This theory is best used when an incentive is able to be used, whether that be reward or punishment. However, this theory does not consider the context of the environment of the individual, which can make it difficult to use.
Austin
RE: SCT
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Emma and I were in the same group (increasing physical activity). As Emma stated, the SCT bases its behavior change on an individuals self monitoring (goals), outcomes expectations, and self efficacy. Concepts are listed below with examples or other information. Reciprocal determinism: This category focuses on behavior and environmental factors. An example of reciprocal determinism focusing on increasing physical activity is to engage with other individuals who have similar physical activity goals. By Including as many factors you can towards promoting physical activity within your environment, this can aid in achieving the goal. Behavioral capability: This refers to the individuals ability to increase their physical activity. This also has to due with the individuals knowledge of how to perform the task at hand. An example of this would be ensuring that the individual is educated on how to use all workout machines at the gym. This will ensure that the individual understands how to increase physical activity. Expectations: This refers to expectations that someone has if they were to increase their physical activity. If a person believes they will look better at the beach, this can influence successful completion of the goal. Self-efficacy: This refers to the a person’s confidence he/she has that they can complete the task. In this case it would be increasing physical activity. It must be recognized the other theories incorporate this construct. Theory of Planned Behavior also includes self-efficacy. If the individual is educated, has peer groups that support, etc., they will have better self-efficacy. Observational: This refers to learning behaviors by exposure to interpersonal or media displays of them. An example of this would be NFL stars on TV commercials promoting physical activity and healthy lifestyles. Reinforcements: This refers to responses to a person’s behavior that affect whether or not the individual will continue working towards the goal of increasing physical activity. An example of a positive response would be giving yourself rewards for meeting physical activity goals. An example of a negative response would be hurting yourself during physical activity.
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2- Use this thread to discuss any other thoughts, questions, insights you had regarding SCT and SEM.
3- Emma
4- RE: anything else?Top of Form
5- I found the SCT to be very interesting! I believe that many health behaviors are learned from witnessing others participate in the health behavior- whether that be a healthy or unhealthy behavior. When attempting to change a behavior, I see it to be very beneficial to find a role model to assist in setting goals and finding motivation.
6- Austin
7- RE: anything else?
8- Top of Form
9- I noticed how the Theory of Planned Behavior and the SCT both include self-efficacy. This shows the importance of this specific construct in many different theories. When changing a health behavior, it is essential that the individual has confidence in themselves that they can actually change. If they do not have confidence to complete the goal/task at hand, then no real change can be made.
10- Poojitha
11- RE: anything else?
12- Top of Form
13- I found Social Cognitive theory exciting because it is easy to understand and it is used to intervene many health behaviors successfully. It focuses on individual characteristics and describes how people learns a behavior by observing others and how we can use this observational learning construct to intervene their behavior.It also describes how environment surrounding a person influences their behavior.
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15- discuss how your group used the SEM to address your health issue. What were your biggest challenges to using this model?
Emma
RE: SEM
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The SEM is very beneficial in targeting health behavior as it considers how the interaction between the individual and their environment influences behavior. Our group was given the topic of physical activity. To target the individual level, education of the risks of a sedentary lifestyle may be used. For interpersonal, workout classes with members of similar age could be utilized. For organizational, campus offers physical education classes for credit. For community, the university has sidewalks so that students and staff may walk rather than using other transportation methods. Lastly, for public policy, a sugary beverage tax could be implemented. The greatest challenge of this model is targeting each level and it seems to require more funding and time as the levels increase
Austin
RE: SEM
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The five levels of SEM and how my group (physcial activity) used them is below.
Individual: As Emma stated, this is where you must ensure the individual is educated of the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle. A couple ways to do so include: reading literature on the risks associated with no exercise and unhealthy eating, and give real person examples of the results of a sedentary or non-active lifestyle. If they see the risks in person, they may develop a certain mindset or motivation to increase physical activity. Interpersonal: This deals with how peer groups view increasing your physical activity. This is where the individual must surround themselves with a peer group that has the same goals in mind. If a person is trying to regain a healthier lifestyle and increase physical activity, an example of an ideal peer group would be finding a workout buddy that will join you in achieving your goal. Organizational: This is mainly discussing anything that can constrain or promote increasing physical behavior. An example of something that constrains someone from increasing physical activity would be heavy class load in college. Large class load can lead to less time for exercise. An example of something that promotes increased physical activity is the on-campus gym. This gives students free access to workout equipment. Community: This is the effect community has on health behavior. An example of this is commercials promoting physical activity. This is where the community is using its resources to get the word out about increasing physical activity and how to lead to a healthier lifestyle. Public Policy: Emma used a good example in this level. By implementing a sugary beverage tax, this could reduce consumption of specific products. In turn, this leads to promoting healthier lifestyles/physical activity within individuals.
The biggest challenge I found with this model is the public policy construct. There is not much I could find on public policies that made real progress in influencing individuals rate of physical activity. It was focused more on eating habits. Although focused on eating habits, I feel as if physcial activity and eating habits go hand-in-hand.
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Poojitha
RE: SEM
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Our group was given a target of increasing physical activity.
SEM describes that there are various factors which influence a person's behavior.They are : Individual,Interpersonal,Organizational,Community,Public Policy.
Individual : It includes knowledge about one's health risks and level of their physical activity.Genetics also play a role for example : if a person has diabetes running in their family he has to preventive and has to adopt healthy lifestyle and maintain proper physical activity inorder to be free from diabetes.
Interpersonal : This constitutes of the people that person interacts with.Increased physical activity can be achieved by interacting with people who are fitness lovers and going to gym with them could be helpful to the person.
Organizational : Organizations providing free entry to gym and providing equipment for badminton,tennis can be helpful to students wanting to be physically active.
Community : Parks,Recreation spaces can be useful to engage in physical activity like walking, running.
Public Policy : Investing in Walkable communities, increasing bike lanes could be a great iniative.
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16- Use this thread to discuss some of your thoughts on observational learning. What are some pros and what are some cons to using this concept to address behavior?
Emma
RE: observational learning
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I believe that observational learning is something that can either work in great advantage or disadvantage in an intervention. Mediaa has become a staple in our society, so utilizing it allows for a large audience to be targeted. The difficulty with this is that it is impossible to manage what all is being seen by the intended population. For instance with physical activity, an individual may see an athletic commercial and become motivated, but then see something next that may divert their motivation to an unhealthy behavior.
However, I do believe that finding a role model through media can be incredibly beneficial. This allows for individuals to set goals while receiving insight on how to achieve them.
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Poojitha
RE: observational learning
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Observational Learning is learning a behavior by watching and getting influenced by others.Pros of observational learning is by adapting a good and positive behavior by observing from their role model like getting physically fit, whereas cons is learning a negative behavior like smoking by watching their role model smoking in movies.
Austin
RE: observational learning
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I also agree with everything being said so far. Observational learning can be both positive and negative. This depends on the behavior being observed by the individual. A positive example of observational learning is NFL stars on TV commercials promoting physical activity and healthier lifestyles. A negative example of observational learning is a child watching a parent smoke. This child will begin to think that smoking is a positive behavior as this is what they see their parents do. Continuing with what Emma said about the importance finding a role model - I also think this is a very important factor. Seeing a role model participate in healthy behaviors can offer motivation to an individual to make changes in their own life.
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