The motivation of health behavior: how self-efficacy and outcome expectancies impact health behavior intention of long-term cancer survivors

It was assumed, the battle of the cancer would be finished at the end of the treatment. However, it was not necessary so. It was because long-term treatment toxicities could carry physical and psychological effects even after many years of being diagnosed. Indeed, 5-year postdiagnosis marker did not guarantee that cancer would not reccur. That was why, it was important to teach long-term cancer survivor to cope with long-term threats and to help them adopted positive health behaviors to achieve good long-term health and quality of life. According to Health Action Process Approach (HAPA), health behavior intention could be influenced by several factors, including self-efficacy and outcome expectancies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies on the health behavior intention of long-term cancer survivor. This study was conducted on 42 cancer survivors , age between 15-50 years old, using self-report instruments, such as The Health Specific Behavior Self-Efficacy Scale (HSBSES), The Life Orientatation Test Revised (LOT-R), and The Health Behavior Intention Scale. Multiple Regression Analysis indicated that selfefficacy and outcome expectancies had positive and significant impact on the health behavior intention of long-term cancer survivor. This means, if individual's self-efficacy and outcome expectancies were increased, their health behavior intention would also increase.