Perspectives on Psychological Science· 2012Q1
Self-Determination Theory Applied to Health Contexts
- 1,967citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2012year
Short summary
A meta-analysis of 184 studies (n > 30,000) confirms that practitioners supporting patient autonomy boosts psychological need satisfaction, leading to better mental and physical health outcomes.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Practitioner support for patient autonomy is strongly linked to patients' psychological need satisfaction.
- Psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation positively predict better mental and physical health.
- SDT provides a viable framework for understanding motivation in health behaviors.
- Moderator analyses indicated that variables like participant age and study design influenced effect sizes.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Behavior change is more effective and lasting when patients are autonomously motivated. To examine this idea, we identified 184 independent data sets from studies that utilized self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) in health care and health promotion contexts. A meta-analysis evaluated relations between the SDT-based constructs of practitioner support for patient autonomy and patients' experience of psychological need satisfaction, as well as relations between these SDT constructs and indices of mental and physical health. Results showed the expected relations among the SDT variables, as well as positive relations of psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation to beneficial health outcomes. Several variables (e.g., participants' age, study design) were tested as potential moderators when effect sizes were heterogeneous. Finally, we used path analyses of the meta-analyzed correlations to test the interrelations among the SDT variables. Results suggested that SDT is a viable conceptual framework to study antecedents and outcomes of motivation for health-related behaviors.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2012 · DOI ↗
Continue with a free account
Ask the paper: 3 free questions a day about this paper; save it, get its citation, new summaries every day for your field. Takeaways are Premium.
Continue free on the webSign in with Google or Apple; no card needed. You come back to this paper.
On your phone:
Field: Social Psychology
Social PsychologyPsychology