Adventure therapy employs a technique in which therapists use controlled amounts of stress to bring about change in the behavior of clients. One of the domains in which adventure therapy reports improvement is that of self-efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy is the belief that individuals have in their ability to overcome and change their situation in life. This study examines the effect of a modified adventure therapy program on the perceived self-efficacy of college students who were enrolled in an Outdoor Pursuits course at a major metropolitan university. Students received 16 weeks of outdoor adventure therapy programming that culminated in a voluntary weekend camping trip. The students were administered the General Self-Efficacy (GSE) scale on the second day of class to determine a baseline level of self-efficacy to be compared to the posttest completed on the last day of class. The study examined 3 consecutive semesters of archival data collected by the researcher while instructing the course. Fifty-six participants across the 3 semesters were usable for data analysis. The results show there is a significant difference between students' level of perceived self-efficacy from pre- to posttest, and no difference in the effect on gender, classification of students, or the participation of the student in the weekend campout. Therefore, the 16 week program improved students' perceived self-efficacy regardless of whether or not they participated in the weekend campout.

The aim of this thesis is to find a relationship between coaching, self-efficacy, employee engagement and personality traits according to the Big Five theory, that means openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. In the theoretical part, the thesis is devoted to measuring the effectiveness of coaching interventions, with a focus on finding connections with the concepts of self-efficacy, engagement and personality traits. The empirical part describes a quasi-experimental research verifying the assumption, that coaching had a significant impact on all monitored independent variables. The experimental group consisted of store managers of unnamed retail company, which were divided into experimental and control group. The experimental group attended six coaching sessions over six months, focusing on any topic related to their work life. The control group did not attend any coaching session. Both groups were tested at the beginning of the coaching program and afterwards. Respondents completed three questionnaires - General Self-Efficacy Scale, Gallup Q12 questionnaire for engagement and NEO five-factor personality inventory. Based on the collected data and statistical analysis, a statistically significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest...

This study examined the musical background characteristics, self-efficacy beliefs, and practice behaviors of string students auditioning for an all-region orchestra in one large South-Central district. Purposes of the study were: (1) to describe the musical backgrounds and self-efficacy beliefs of high school string students, (2) to measure the relationship between self-efficacy scores and performance achievement, and (3) to describe the practice behaviors and thoughts of high and low self-efficacy string students. Questionnaires were given to 101 high school string students; 65 competed in all-region orchestra. Descriptive data from the questionnaire revealed information such as how many took private lessons and that those who did tended to have a higher sense of perceived self-efficacy in relation to playing their string instruments. Other descriptive items asked questions such as whether or not students started in public school and how much they practiced outside of orchestra. The relationship of summed self-efficacy scores to a competition ranking was found to be statistically significant and inverse. For all string participants (n=65) Spearman's rho was, rs= -.37, (p=.001) with 14% of the variance explained (r2 =.14). This inverse relationship documents the linear trend for students with better rankings (lower ranking numbers) to also tend to have higher self-efficacy scores. Observation and interview data of 8 higher and 8 lower self-efficacy sub-group students were also analyzed. The higher self-efficacy sub-group students tended to use more cognitive practice strategies, while the lower self-efficacy sub-group tended to use dissimilar and less advanced strategies. Understanding string students' musical background experiences and characteristics and the possible relationship self-efficacy may have with practice and achievement could benefit certain students. Helping these students gain a higher sense of perceived self-efficacy in their musical endeavors, or obtain certain characteristics that successful students share, could possibly enable them to develop and understand more complex practice strategies and compete more confidently.

Many elementary students struggle to meet expectations on mathematics assessments despite an increase in science, technology, engineering, and math instructional strategies. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore elementary math teachers' technology integration self-efficacy, their level of technology adoption, and their actual technology integration behavior. The conceptual framework used in this study included Bandura's social cognitive theory, which is often used in the investigation of self-efficacy. Additionally, the International Society for Technology Education Classroom Tool, which is in alignment with the National Educational Standards for Teachers, was used to gauge the level of technology integration in the classroom. Nine volunteer teachers in Grades 3-5 participated in surveys, observations, and follow-up interviews. Data were analyzed using open coding to identify themes and patterns. The findings from this study indicated that the teachers' perceptions were positive as they believed technology could have positive implications for the teaching and learning process. However, findings also indicated that not all the teachers in the study felt confident with using technology in their practice. These teachers indicated that there was a need for onsite support, peer mentoring and professional development geared towards effectively aligning content, pedagogy, and technology. The information from this study may add more to the body of knowledge on information and communications technologies adoption and integration. The social change potential in this study is that through confident teachers in mathematics, and technology integration, students may improve their skills to be competitive for employment and opportunities in a global marketplace.

Self-efficacy har beskrivits som en viktig faktor för hur människor handlar. Tron på den egna förmågan kan hjälpa individen att uppnå specifika mål eller färdigheter i alla möjliga domäner. Denna studie hade som syfte att undersöka om VFU samt kön var relaterade till hur studenterna skattade sin generella och akademiska self-efficacy. I studien deltog 122 studenter från tre olika högskole- och universitetsprogram genom att besvara en enkät, vilken innehöll General self-efficacy scale samt College academic self-efficacy scale. Datan analyserades med två tvåvägs ANOVA för oberoende mätningar. Resultatet visade att studenter utan VFU skattade sin akademiska self-efficacy högre än studenter med VFU och att båda variablerna, det vill säga kön och huruvida man haft VFU eller inte, interagerar med varandra i påverkan på vilken grad av akademisk self-efficacy man har. Intresset för vidare forskning inom ämnet self-efficacy diskuteras där studier inom mer specifika områden såsom självtilltro inför kommande arbetsliv i relation till vilken typ av högskole- och universitetsprogram man går.

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Schools closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic with the expectation that learning continue from home. This presented a unique challenge for parents of children with special educational needs as during this time levels of stress were high and access to supports were low. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore and describe parents of children with SEN's experiences with at-home learning as it relates to their learning-specific parental self-efficacy, perceived stress and perceived support from their child’s school. Quantitative analysis revealed that learning-specific PSE was significantly and negatively related to perceived stress. Parents did not differ in their perception of school supports. While qualitative analysis revealed many similarities between groups, it also revealed nuanced differences that show that parents of high and low PSE experienced the school closures differently. Overall, the findings of this study provide evidence that parents with high and low parental self-efficacy differ in their experiences of supporting the learning of their children with SEN. This study serves to add to the limited body of literature on learning-specific PSE, as well as inform the efforts of schools and other professionals in supporting the parents of children with SEN and their families.

Self-efficacy is theorized to represent our ability, capability, or capacity to accomplish particular tasks. One’s belief in that ability (self-efficacy belief) has been identified as the greatest predictor of successful performance and is influenced by four primary sources (enactive mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal/social persuasion, physiological and affective states), in addition to personal and contextual influences. However, the development of accurate self-perceptions may be particularly challenging for the collegiate vocalist. In the development of singing technique—where self-assessment is complicated by the corporal nature of the vocal instrument—Bandura’s (1997) sources of self-efficacy provide a framework whereby assessment of ability and capability may become more tangible. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to investigate how collegiate vocal students’ beliefs in their vocal performance abilities may be influenced by the four self-efficacy sources and personal/contextual factors. I distributed the Vocal Performance Self-Efficacy Survey (adapted from Zelenak, 2011) to 46 voice majors at a private university in the western United States. Nine interview participants, who represented diversity of performance beliefs, were subsequently selected from the survey participant pool. Interview participants completed an initial interview based on a priori themes (four sources of self-efficacy); and a follow-up interview, which explored contextual factors (i.e., student/teacher relationship, environment, cognitive self-regulation, practice habits, and gender). In addition, participants documented three experiences—in a voice lesson, practice session, and performance—that fostered or hindered their performance belief. Vocal students in this study described how they progressed in self-belief by moving from a reliance on external assessments of ability to a reliance on self-appraisal as they (a) developed their technique through practice, studio learning, and performance (enactive mastery experience); (b) watched coping and master models (vicarious experience); (c) received feedback (verbal/social persuasion); (d) knew and felt physically when they were singing freely (physiological and affective states); and (e) learned to exercise agency (cognitive self-regulation). A particularly important finding from this study was the common and consistent reliance singers placed on physiological and affective states. Eight of nine interview participants responded that, of all the self-efficacy sources, physiological and affective states most affected their performance belief. Interview data indicate the importance of nurturing vocal students’ performance beliefs through utilizing the four sources of self-efficacy, fostering qualities of persistence and resilience, facilitating cognitive self-regulation, working toward productive student/teacher relationships, and creating safe learning and performance environments.