Self-Efficacy and Memory Aging: The Impact of a Memory Intervention Based on Self-Efficacy

ABSTRACT

A multifactorial training program was developed for older adults, to improve self-efficacy and memory performance. Elements designed to raise self-efficacy were integrated into class discussions, homework readings, and practice exercises, including an emphasis on memory potential at any age, self-set goals, and opportunities for mastery. Strategy training focused on association, organization, attention, imagery, and PQRST. Significant improvements for the training group, as compared to a wait-list control group, were observed for memory self-efficacy, locus of control, name recall and story recall. Trained participants were using effective strategies more so than the control group. Final test scores were predicted by self-efficacy, condition assignment, and baseline ability (with some variation across the three tasks). These findings suggest that an integrated and comprehensive training program that incorporates principles of self-efficacy theory has great potential for improving older adults' memory ability.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation. We are grateful for their support. Special thanks to the Lifelong Learning Program at the Villages and the Shepherd Center for permitting us to recruit participants in their educational programs.

Notes

¹ Our review of the literature does not include memory training studies in which there was no control group (e.g., a general discussion or wait-list control group). Without a control group, it is not possible to evaluate whether any observed changes in beliefs or performance are due to the elements of the intervention or due to a practice or reactivity effect. For example, in one of the more interesting studies focusing on subjective beliefs, a cognitive restructuring group showed comparable changes to a traditional memory training group on an immediate posttest, and then exceeded the training group on some measures at a 9-week followup session (Caprio-Prevette & Fry, 1996). The meaning of these results is unclear without a wait-list or practice-only control condition.

∗Dana Bagwell is now at The Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health and Center on Aging and Health.

² Many studies have targeted subjective beliefs; this statement refers specifically to self-efficacy. Within social cognitive theory, measures of self-efficacy are not equivalent to other types of self-ratings. A detailed discussion of important differences between the alternative formats for assessing self-rated memory is beyond the scope of this paper (see Hertzog & Hultsch, 2000; West, Dennehy-Basile, & Norris, 1996).

³ Detailed tables showing strategy usage for all interviews are available on request. On many strategies, there were also significant interactions between education and level, such that those with higher education performed better on the Level 2 test relative to those with less education. These results were not included here because they do not add anything to the primary test score results reported earlier. Also note that it was not possible, for many individual strategies, to examine the impact of strategy usage in the same analyses with condition effects, due to the differential distribution of strategy usage across conditions, e.g., there were a number of people who utilized a PQRST strategy at posttest-2, but they were all in the training condition.