Date of Award

6-2017

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lindsay Morton

Language

English

Abstract

The three variables of autonomous motivation self-efficacy and autonomy support have positively predicted improvement in and adherence to various health rehabilitation programs. There have also been positive correlations between these variables such that those with high autonomous motivation also have high self-efficacy. In the current study we examined if these relationships would be replicated in the physical therapy context. Participants were adult community members recruited from their physical therapy practice through flyers. Participants were asked to complete a first survey regarding their autonomous motivation self-efficacy and current health status and a second survey four weeks later asking about their current health status and the perceived autonomy support from the physical therapist. Our findings were not consistent with past research such that none of the variables were positively correlated with each other nor were they positively correlated with perceived improvement in patients. This lack of correlations may have been due to the variety of injuries included in the sample as well as the short time-span used to measure improvement. Future research should focus on measuring all three independent variables at multiple time points and examining other potential predictors such as autonomy support from friends and family.

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