Normative Beliefs of Health Behavior Professionals regarding the Psychosocial and Environmental Factors That Influence Health Behavior Change Related to Smoking Cessation, Regular Exercise, and Weight Loss

Abstract

Purpose. To examine the degree of consensus among health behavior change professionals regarding the personal and environmental factors they believe most strongly influence health behavior decisions related to smoking cessation, regular exercise, and weight loss. Design. A factorial survey design was implemented. This method combines the positive elements from simple sample surveys and factorial experiment designs. A total of 44 independent psychosocial and environmental variables are used to randomly construct vignettes, or short stories, to collect dependent variable data. Subjects. A probability sample of 311 health behavior change professionals was selected from the Society for Public Health Education, Inc., the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and faculty from the 1986 Harvard University Symposium on Health Promotion in the Work Place. Measures. Judgment ratings on the probability that the person described in each vignette would initiate the behavior in question. Results. Multivariate analysis indicates that the multidimensional model explained approximately one half of the variance in the judgments across the three health behaviors (smoking cessation, R2 = .52; weight loss, R2 = .49; and regular exercise, R2 = .49). Conclusions. These data suggest a high degree of consensus among the sample regarding the personal and environmental factors that influence health behavior judgments. Here, the subjects perceive both behavioral intentions and self-efficacy as the most powerful determinants of judgments to initiate weight loss, regular exercise, and smoking cessation.