Self-efficacy in weight management.
1991/01/01 by Matthew M. Clark, David B. Abrams, Raymond S. Niaura +3 · 659 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Clinical psychology #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Mechanism (biology) #Medicine #Obesity #Obesity and Health Practices #Psychology #Self-efficacy #Situational ethics #Social psychology #Weight loss #Weight management
paper · open access · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.59.5.739
published in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 59(5), 739-744 (American Psychological Association)
openalex publication_date 1991/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract
Self-efficacy is an important mediating mechanism in advancing understanding of the treatment of obesity. This study developed and validated the Weight Efficacy Life-Style Questionnaire (WEL), improving on previous studies by the use of clinical populations, cross-validation of the initial factor analysis, exploration of the best fitting theoretical model of self-efficacy, and examination of change in treatment. The resulting 20-item WEL consists of five situational factors: Negative Emotions, Availability, Social Pressure, Physical Discomfort, and Positive Activities. A hierarchical model was found to provide the best fit to the data. Results from two separate clinical treatment studies (total N = 382) show that the WEL is sensitive to changes in global scores as well as to a subset of the five situational factor scores. Treatment programs may be incomplete if they change only a subset of the situational dimensions of self-efficacy. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
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