Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior (Nursing)

00:00 This presentation covers the Theory of Recent Action and the Theory of Planned Behavior.

00:07 The reason I have included both of them in the same lecture is simple, they're very similar to each other.

00:12 In fact, the Theory of Planned Behavior is an evolution or newer version of the Theory of Recent Action.

00:19 Because the Theory of Recent Action was developed first, let's start there.

00:25 The Theory of Recent Action was developed in the 1960s as a way to predict an individual's intention to engage in a behavior.

00:33 The most important component of this theory is behavioral intent, our intentions to perform a specific behavior.

00:41 The theory tells us that the intention to perform a behavior can be predicted by 2 things, a person's attitude towards the behavior and the subjective norms about that behavior.

00:52 So now that I've introduced the theory, let's take a look at each of these components in detail.

00:59 Here is an image of the Theory of Recent Action.

01:02 In the center, we see intention. And remember, intention is the most important part of this theory.

01:08 Thru this theory, we believe that behavior is a direct result of intention.

01:13 An intention is a result of different types of beliefs.

01:17 Behavioral beliefs influence our attitudes and normative beliefs influence subjective norms.

01:23 Let's take a look at each of those.

01:27 Behavioral beliefs are beliefs that lead us to either have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about a specific behavior.

01:34 Do we think the behavior will lead to better outcomes? If so, we're more likely to have favorable beliefs about that behavior.

01:43 We also take into consideration evaluation of behavioral outcomes.

01:47 These are the values that we attach to the behaviors and the outcomes of those behaviors.

01:53 So if we belief that a behavioral will make us more healthy, we must value health in order for that to positively impact our attitude.

02:03 Behavioral beliefs influence attitude.

02:06 An attitude is a person's disposition to act in a certain way to engage in a specific behavior.

02:13 The next type of beliefs that influence intention are normative beliefs.

02:17 Normative beliefs are when individual believes society and those close to them expect from them.

02:23 On the other hand, motivation to comply is how important the opinion of society or those who are close to them is to them.

02:31 So, for normative beliefs, we may ask a patient "Do you think your sister thinks it's acceptable to have unprotected sex?" For motivation to comply, we may ask how often do you do what your sister thinks is acceptable? Together, these influence subjective norms.

02:50 So to bring it all together, normative beliefs and motivation to comply all filter in to the subjective norm.

02:58 So if your sister thinks you should not have unprotected sex and you really value what your sister believes, you're less likely to have unprotected sex.

03:08 The normative beliefs the motivation to comply lead to the subjective norm which then leads to your intention to perform the behavior.

03:18 Furthermore, there are external variables that contribute to the theory of recent action such as demographics, attitude towards the target or the behavior, and/or personality traits.

03:30 So as a recap, behavior is a direct result of intention.

03:35 Intention is influenced by 2 types of beliefs, behavioral and normative.

03:40 These contribute to attitudes about a behavior and subjective norms.

03:45 That's the theory of recent action.

03:49 Now, as I mentioned earlier, the Theory of Recent Action evolved into the Theory of Planned Behavior.

03:55 So how did that happen? Researchers recognized in some instances the Theory of Recent Action failed to predict behavior.

04:03 This was especially true for behaviors that seemed irrational.

04:07 So to better explain and predict behaviors, a new component was added to the theory and the theory was renamed the Theory of Planned Behavior.

04:17 Ultimately, the Theory of Recent Action does not account for people's perception of the power that they have to control their own behaviors.

04:25 So with the Theory of Planned Behavior, perceived control was added as an additional influence to the intention to perform a behavior.

04:33 So let's focus now on the pink.

04:35 Here we see that control beliefs and perceived power contribute to perceived control.

04:41 Control beliefs are a person's perception of the difficulty or ease of performing an intended behavior.

04:49 Perceived power, this is the attitude that facilitates or impedes performance of a specific behavior.

04:56 Together, these contribute to perceived control.

04:59 This is the individual's perception about the control that they exert over their behavior.

05:04 Do they believe that performing this behavior is within their control? When you look at this altogether, what you see here are 3 different types of beliefs; behavioral beliefs that influence attitude, normative beliefs that influence subjective norms, and control beliefs that influence perceived control.

05:24 Together, all of these impact intention to perform a behavior which either facilitates or challenges an individual's attempt at engaging in that healthy behavior.

05:35 Time for a case study.

05:37 Let's consider a patient who's health would benefit from engaging in physical activity.

05:42 Now, to use this model, we want to consider all 3 types of beliefs.

05:46 Let's start first with behavioral beliefs.

05:49 Here, we need to understand our patient's attitude about physical activity.

05:54 We could ask "What do you think the impact of doing physical activity would be for you? Would it be harmful or beneficial? Do you think it would be useless or do you find it valuable?" What about normative beliefs? Here, we can assess factors that influence subjective norms.

06:11 What questions would you ask to better understand the social influences for your patient? You could ask "Would most people who are important to you support your decision to become physically active? Explain that to me. And finally, we have control beliefs.

06:29 Here, we want to better understand how easy or hard our patient thinks physical activity would be for them.

06:35 So we might just simply ask "Do you think physical activity would be hard or easy for you? Tell me why." By understanding these 3 types of beliefs, we can better collaborate with our patients to encourage behavioral change and empower them to improve their own health.