Social Cognitive Theory, Research, & Practice in Integrative Healthcare

Integrative medical practitioners acknowledge links between body systems in treatment, recognize that illness and disease manifest uniquely in each patient, and address the complexity of each human being in an individualized manner. Fundamental concepts related to the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) for understanding human behavior include outcome expectancy, self-efficacy, and skills. When working with targeted populations, public health practitioners can map-out the SCT to identify the social support, social network, and environmental factors affecting a community to achieve behavioral change. The SCT model can aid in the development of a plan of actions that public health practitioners can take next to address public health needs within a community in an integrative therapeutic manner.