Obesity

Obesity is what I picked because it is something I see everyday everywhere I go. The constructs of SCT include Reciprocal Determinism, Outcome Expectations, Self-Efficacy, Collective Efficacy, Observational Learning, Incentive Motivation, Facilitation, Self Regulation, and Moral Disengagement. - Reciprocal determinism deals with environmental factors that can potentially influence behavior. Many people have unhealthy lifestyles for various reasons. It can be because of they way he/she were raised, the physical environment my only offer fast food as a choice to eat rather than a place that offers healthy place. Many people may be depressed and eat to try to satisfy their boredom or feelings. - Outcome expectations are the beliefs of the consequences surrounding choices. Many people know that fast food is and not exercising will make them obese and eventually lead to heart disease. However I believe that many people don’t think it could happen to them even though they know that heart disease is a factor of obesity. - Self-efficacy is the belief in ones ability to complete a certain tasks. Some people believe they can overcome obesity and do. However may people diet and eat right for a few days and then go back to their old lifestyle. - Collective efficacy could be the collective support of a group of people that have unhealthy behaviors and provide moral support through discussions about a specific person’s problem. - Observational learning is learning something that is learned by seeing and observing others. Children watch their parents and usually pick up on parents eating habits. It is important to keep a proper diet for yourself and children. Children only know what they are taught, observe, and hear. Unhealthy eating habits by parents usually rub off on the children. - Incentive Motivation is rewarding your self for changing an unwanted behavior. A person can do this by sticking to a certain diet and maybe one time a week reward themselves by splurging one night a week or only every 2 weeks. If someone likes to shop maybe they can look forward to buying smaller clothes for themselves when they start losing weight. - Facilitation is the use of various tools and resources that make certain behaviors easier or more pleasant to stick to. I have heard talk of a possible higher fast food tax. This wouldn’t be pleasant, by no means, but maybe it would deter someone from buying fast food frequently. - Self-regulation is regulating self. This can be accomplished by establishing a diet plan and sticking to it. Identifying the amount of calories or saturated fat in various products may help self regulate the idea of indulging in unhealthy foods. - Moral disengagement is changing the way someone portrays a certain behavior or thinks about the consequences of a behavior. People look in the mirror everyday and know that they are over weight. Some people just aren’t concerned and keep their unhealthy lifestyles. In the Social Cognitive Theory there are five categories. These categories include psychological determinants of behavior, observational learning, environmental determinants of behavior, self regulation, and moral disengagement (Glanz, Rimer, and Viswanath, 170). There are nine key concepts that fall in these five categories. These concepts include reciprocal determinism, outcome expectation, self-efficacy, collective efficacy, observational learning, incentive motivation, facilitation, self-regulation, and moral disengagement. A look at obesity through the SCT Reciprocal determinism is when environmental factors either influence the individual or group or the individual or group influences the environment. The environment that surrounds individuals today is a fast paced world full fast food restaurants. Even though there is a strong desire to eat healthier foods, the proximity and the exposure to readily available source of fast food generally defeats the whole process. Outcome expectations are our beliefs about the likelihood and value of the consequences of behavioral choices. Most people with obesity do not believe that a little fast food here and a snack there will not lead to major health problems. Self-efficacy are the beliefs about a person’s ability to perform behaviors that bring desired outcomes. Most obese people do not believe that they can exercise to work off the weight and keep off this weight. Collective efficacy is the beliefs about the ability of a group to perform concerted actions that bring desired outcomes. People that are overweight or obese do not believe that they can cut back on the unhealthy foods. They feel as though they need these foods. Observational learning is learning to perform new behaviors by exposure to interpersonal or media displays of them, particularly through peer modeling. This would be when overweight or obese people would join with other overweight people and workout together, or to talk about eating and coping strategies. A television example might be the biggest looser. When they see others with the same problem overcoming the obstacles they feel empowered to do the same. Incentive motivation is the use and misuse of rewards and punishments to modify behavior. When an overweight person falls from a diet or workout routine then they should not be punished by exercise. However after a women looses ten pounds a shopping trip might be a great reward! Facilitation is providing tools, resources, or environmental changes to make new behaviors easier to perform. When a mom of three is trying to lose weight if her husband would support her by allowing her the finances to join a gym, or get a personal trainer, this would help her have the tools she needs. Also if he would agree to start eating healthier with her this would be an environmental change that the whole family would benefit from. Self-regulation is controlling oneself through self-monitoring, goal-setting, feedback, self-reward, self-instruction, and enlistment of social support. This is when having a group of people to hold you accountable to your workout would greatly benefit an overweight person staring a workout routine. Trainers are great, but friends and family that a person trusts could be just as good or better to keep track of one’s progress. Moral disengagement is ways of thinking about harmful behaviors and the people that are harmed that make infliction of suffering acceptable by disengaging self-regulatory moral standards. Eating too much or not exercising is harming only ones self. However as role models, mothers, fathers, and health professional we are harming our younger generation with our actions of continuing to eat out too much and not prepare healthy meals at home. Glanz, K, Rimer, B.K., Lewis, F.M. (Eds.). (2008). Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research and Practice 3rd edition. San Francisco, CA: Josseybass.