Table 4.

Bandura’s Four Components of Self-Efficacy Exemplified in Physical Therapy

	Mastery Experience	Verbal Persuasion	Vicarious Experience	Physiological State
Description	Successfully completing or enduring a challenge or a task that one perceived they were incapable of	Verbal motivation and encouragement from trusted and respected people	“If they can do it, I can do it.” Observing others overcoming similar challenges	Somatic sensations of stress, anxiety and depression deplete self-efficacy whereas calmness instills self-efficacy
Physical Therapy Example	Using graded exposure to engage in and accomplish a feared task. Practicing parts of movements that the patient reports as painful	Coaching patients to move and exercise in ways they felt unable to, i.e., encouraging patients to ambulate with a lesser assistive device; providing positive reinforcement	Seeing other patients with similar functional restrictions overcome them. Facilitating camaraderie amongst patients. Performing PT in groups of patients with similar conditions	Working on breathing techniques to calm anxiety. Teaching mindfulness strategies to control negative thoughts and emotions. Using biofeedback to alter somatic sensations