Mailey Emily L, McAuley Edward
a Department of Kinesiology & Community Health , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana , Illinois , USA.
Women Health. 2014;54(6):552-68. doi: 10.1080/03630242.2014.899542.
Working mothers often report elevated stress, and efforts to improve their coping resources are needed to buffer the detrimental effects of stress on health. This study examined the impact of changes in physical activity, self-efficacy, and self-regulation across the course of a brief intervention on subsequent levels of stress in working mothers. Participants (N = 141) were randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition (2:1 ratio). The intervention was conducted in Illinois between March 2011 and January 2012 and consisted of two group-mediated workshop sessions with content based on social cognitive theory. Participants completed measures of physical activity, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and perceived stress at baseline, immediately postintervention, and 6-month follow-up. Stress levels declined across the 6-month period in both groups. Changes in stress were negatively associated with changes in self-efficacy and self-regulation among intervention participants only. Regression analyses revealed the intervention elicited short-term increases in physical activity, self-efficacy, and self-regulation, but only changes in self-efficacy predicted perceived stress at 6-month follow-up. These results suggest that enhancing self-efficacy is likely to improve working mothers' perceived capabilities to cope with stressors in their lives. Future interventions should continue to focus on increasing self-efficacy to promote improvements in physical activity and psychological well-being in this population.
职业母亲常常报告说压力有所增加，因此需要努力改善她们的应对资源，以缓冲压力对健康的不利影响。本研究考察了在一次简短干预过程中，体育活动、自我效能感和自我调节能力的变化对职业母亲后续压力水平的影响。参与者（N = 141）被随机分配到干预组或对照组（比例为2:1）。干预于2011年3月至2012年1月在伊利诺伊州进行，包括两次基于社会认知理论的小组介导研讨会。参与者在基线、干预后立即以及6个月随访时完成了体育活动、自我效能感、自我调节和感知压力的测量。两组在6个月期间压力水平均有所下降。仅在干预参与者中，压力变化与自我效能感和自我调节能力的变化呈负相关。回归分析显示，干预引起了体育活动、自我效能感和自我调节能力的短期增加，但只有自我效能感的变化能预测6个月随访时的感知压力。这些结果表明，增强自我效能感可能会提高职业母亲应对生活中压力源的感知能力。未来的干预措施应继续侧重于提高自我效能感，以促进这一人群体育活动和心理健康的改善。
