Self-efficacy in a nursing context

Abstract

Self-efficacy is one of the most ubiquitous term found in social, psychological, counselling, education, clinical and health literatures. The purpose of this chapter is to describe and evaluate self-efficacy theory and the studies most relevant to the nursing context. This chapter provides an overview of the development of self-efficacy theory, its five components and the role of self-efficacy in promoting emotional and behavioural changes in a person's life with health problems. This chapter also discusses the role of self-efficacy in nursing interventions by providing examples of studies conducted in health promotion in patients and academic performance of nursing students.