Construção e investigação de evidências de validade de uma escala de autoeficácia para atletas brasileiros

Abstract

A autoeficácia é considerada um mediador de comportamentos e influenciador dos esquemas cognitivos. Está também diretamente relacionada com a motivação das ações humanas e com a persistência e esforço para as realizações de tarefas, sendo um constructo importante para se estudar no contexto esportivo, por se tratar de um ambiente de superação diária de resultados e desempenho. Apesar dessa importância, nota-se a escassez de instrumentos validados para avaliar e mensurar a autoeficácia no contexto esportivo brasileiro. Por esse motivo, a presente tese teve como objetivo geral desenvolver e verificar as evidências de validade das propriedades psicométricas de uma Escala de Autoeficácia para Atletas Brasileiros. Para isso, foram realizados cinco estudos. O primeiro refere-se à construção de uma versão inicial do instrumento, composta por 84 itens, baseados na literatura da Teoria Social Cognitiva de Albert Bandura. No segundo estudo investigou-se evidências de validade de conteúdo do instrumento através da verificação da adequação do instrumento junto ao público-alvo a partir de um estudo piloto junto a 15 atletas divididos em três grandes grupos (adultos, adolescentes com 14 anos e paratletas); além disso, também foi feita uma análise por cinco juízes especialistas em avaliação psicológica e psicologia esportiva. Os juízes consideraram adequados 81 itens, os quais tiveram suas evidências de validade com base na estrutura interna e precisão investigadas no estudo 3. Participaram do estudo 379 atletas brasileiros com idades entre 13 e 51 anos, nascidos nas cinco regiões do país e praticantes de diferentes modalidades esportivas. A análise fatorial confirmatória comprovou a estrutura fatorial de quatro fatores: Experiências Diretas de Domínio, Experiências Vicárias, Persuasão Verbal e Estados Fisiológicos e Emocionais. As cargas fatoriais variaram de 0,238 a 0,732. Após a exclusão de cinco itens com cargas fatoriais negativa, a versão final da escala ficou composta por 76 itens,. A precisão, por meio da consistência interna, também se mostrou satisfatória (Ômega Mcdonald ≤ 0,82). No estudo quatro, os resultados na escala foram comparados com outros instrumentos que avaliavam motivação e saúde mental, a fim de investigar as evidências de validade baseadas em testes que avaliam construtos relacionados. Participaram desta etapa 117 atletas, todos homens, com idades entre 13 e 20 anos e praticantes de modalidades coletivas. O instrumento apresentou correlações positivas e significativas com a maioria das dimensões de motivação e com o instrumento de saúde mental. Por fim, o estudo cinco se propôs a avaliar a influência de variáveis sociodemográficas no resultado da escala. Notou-se que apenas os critérios ‘tempo de prática’ e ‘gênero’ apresentaram diferenças entre as médias nos fatores Experiências Diretas de Domínio (médias superiores em atletas com mais de seis anos de prática) e Estados Fisiológicos e Emocionais (médias superiores em homens e atletas com mais de seis anos de prática). Os demais critérios sociodemográficos avaliados (nível de escolaridade, modalidade, região de moradia, nível competitivo e se o atleta possuía ou não alguma deficiência) não demonstraram diferença significativa em suas médias, permitindo inferir que a escala pode ser utilizada com atletas com características distintas. De maneira geral, acredita-se que o objetivo da presente tese foi atingido satisfatoriamente, podendo afirmar que a Escala de Autoeficácia para Atletas Brasileiros possui propriedades psicométricas adequadas para o uso junto a atletas brasileiros.

Self-efficacy is considered a mediator of behaviors and an influencer of cognitive schemas. It is also directly related to the motivation of human actions and the persistence and effort to accomplish tasks. Due to the sport context being an environment of daily overcoming of results and performance, it is an important construct of study to be explored in this world. Even though this is extremely important, there is a lack of validated instruments to assess and measure self efficacy in the Brazilian sports context. Therefore, the general aim of this thesis was to develop and verify the validity evidence of the psychometric properties of a Self-Efficacy Scale for Brazilian Athletes. For this, five studies were accomplished. The first one refers to the construction of a first version of the instrument, consisting of 84 items, based on the literature of Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. In the second study, evidence of content validity of the instrument was investigated by verifying the adequacy of the instrument with the target audience based on a pilot study with 15 athletes divided into three large groups (adults, 14- year-old adolescents and parathletes); in addition, an analysis was also accomplished by five expert judges in psychological assessment and sports psychology. The judges considered 81 items suitable, which had their evidence of validity based on the internal structure and accuracy investigated in study 3. This study included 379 Brazilian athletes aged between 13 and 51 years old, born in the five regions of the country and practitioners from different sports modalities. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of four factors: Direct Experiences of Mastery, Vicarious Experiences, Verbal Persuasion and Physiological and Emotional States. Factor loadings ranged from 0.238 to 0.732. After excluding five items with negative factor loadings, the final version of the scale consisted of 76 items. Accuracy, through internal consistency, was also satisfactory (Omega Mcdonald ≤ 0.82). In study four, the scale results were compared with other instruments that assessed motivation and mental health, to investigate validity evidence based on tests that assess related constructs. 117 athletes participated in this stage, all men, aged between 13 and 20 years old and practitioners of collective sports. The instrument showed positive and significant correlations with most of the motivation dimensions and with the mental health instrument. Finally, study five proposed to assess the influence of sociodemographic variables on the scale result. It was noted that only the criteria 'practice time' and 'gender' showed differences between the means in the factors Direct Experiences of Mastery (higher avarage in athletes with more than six years of practice) and Physiological and Emotional States (higher avarage in men and athletes with more than six years of practice). The other sociodemographic criteria evaluated (level of education, modality, region of residence, competitive level and whether the athlete had a disability) showed no significant difference in their averages, allowing to infer that the scale can be used with athletes with different characteristics. In general, it is believed that the aim of this thesis was satisfactorily achieved, and it can be stated that the Self-Efficacy Scale for Brazilian Athletes has adequate psychometric properties to use with this population.Self-efficacy is considered a mediator of behaviors and an influencer of cognitive schemas. It is also directly related to the motivation of human actions and the persistence and effort to accomplish tasks. Due to the sport context being an environment of daily overcoming of results and performance, it is an important construct of study to be explored in this world. Even though this is extremely important, there is a lack of validated instruments to assess and measure self efficacy in the Brazilian sports context. Therefore, the general aim of this thesis was to develop and verify the validity evidence of the psychometric properties of a Self-Efficacy Scale for Brazilian Athletes. For this, five studies were accomplished. The first one refers to the construction of a first version of the instrument, consisting of 84 items, based on the literature of Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. In the second study, evidence of content validity of the instrument was investigated by verifying the adequacy of the instrument with the target audience based on a pilot study with 15 athletes divided into three large groups (adults, 14- year-old adolescents and parathletes); in addition, an analysis was also accomplished by five expert judges in psychological assessment and sports psychology. The judges considered 81 items suitable, which had their evidence of validity based on the internal structure and accuracy investigated in study 3. This study included 379 Brazilian athletes aged between 13 and 51 years old, born in the five regions of the country and practitioners from different sports modalities. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of four factors: Direct Experiences of Mastery, Vicarious Experiences, Verbal Persuasion and Physiological and Emotional States. Factor loadings ranged from 0.238 to 0.732. After excluding five items with negative factor loadings, the final version of the scale consisted of 76 items. Accuracy, through internal consistency, was also satisfactory (Omega Mcdonald ≤ 0.82). In study four, the scale results were compared with other instruments that assessed motivation and mental health, to investigate validity evidence based on tests that assess related constructs. 117 athletes participated in this stage, all men, aged between 13 and 20 years old and practitioners of collective sports. The instrument showed positive and significant correlations with most of the motivation dimensions and with the mental health instrument. Finally, study five proposed to assess the influence of sociodemographic variables on the scale result. It was noted that only the criteria 'practice time' and 'gender' showed differences between the means in the factors Direct Experiences of Mastery (higher avarage in athletes with more than six years of practice) and Physiological and Emotional States (higher avarage in men and athletes with more than six years of practice). The other sociodemographic criteria evaluated (level of education, modality, region of residence, competitive level and whether the athlete had a disability) showed no significant difference in their averages, allowing to infer that the scale can be used with athletes with different characteristics. In general, it is believed that the aim of this thesis was satisfactorily achieved, and it can be stated that the Self-Efficacy Scale for Brazilian Athletes has adequate psychometric properties to use with this population.

La autoeficacia es considerada un mediador de comportamientos e influenciador de esquemas cognitivos. También está directamente relacionada con la motivación de las acciones humanas y la persistencia y el esfuerzo para realizar tareas, siendo un constructo importante para estudiar en el contexto deportivo, por ser un ambiente de superación diaria de resultados y rendimiento. A pesar de esta importancia, faltan instrumentos validados para evaluar y medir la autoeficacia en el contexto deportivo brasileño. Por eso, el objetivo general de esta tesis fue desarrollar y verificar las evidencias de validez de las propiedades psicométricas de una Escala de Autoeficacia para Atletas Brasileños. Para ello se realizaron cinco estudios. El primero se refiere a la construcción de una versión inicial del instrumento, compuesta por 84 ítems, basada en la literatura de la Teoría Social Cognitiva de Albert Bandura. En el segundo estudio, se investigó la evidencia de validez de contenido del instrumento verificando la idoneidad del instrumento con el público-objetivo a partir de un estudio piloto con 15 atletas divididos en tres grandes grupos (adultos, adolescentes de 14 años y paraatletas); además, también se llevó a cabo un análisis por parte de cinco jueces expertos en evaluación psicológica y psicología del deporte. Los jueces consideraron adecuados 81 ítems, que tuvieron su evidencia de validez a partir de la estructura interna y precisión investigada en el estudio 3. Participaron 379 atletas brasileños con edades entre 13 y 51 años, nacidos en las cinco regiones del país y practicantes de diferentes modalidades deportivas. El análisis factorial confirmatorio confirmó la estructura factorial de cuatro factores: Experiencias Directas de Maestría, Experiencias Vicarias, Persuasión Verbal y Estados Fisiológicos y Emocionales. Las cargas factoriales oscilaron entre 0,238 y 0,732. Luego de excluir cinco ítems con cargas factoriales negativas, la versión final de la escala constaba de 76 ítems. La precisión, por consistencia interna, también fue satisfactoria (Omega Mcdonald ≤ 0,82). En el estudio cuatro, los resultados de la escala se compararon con otros instrumentos que evaluaron la motivación y la salud mental, para investigar evidencias de validez basadas en pruebas que evalúan constructos relacionados. En esta etapa participaron 117 atletas, todos hombres, con edades comprendidas entre los 13 y los 20 años y practicantes de deportes colectivos. El instrumento mostró correlaciones positivas y significativas con la mayoría de las dimensiones de motivación y con el instrumento de salud mental. Finalmente, el estudio cinco se propuso evaluar la influencia de las variables sociodemográficas en el resultado de la escala. Se observó que solo los criterios 'tiempo de práctica' y 'género' presentaron diferencias entre las medias en los factores Experiencias Directas de Maestría (medias más altas en deportistas con más de seis años de práctica) y Estados Fisiológicos y Emocionales (medias más altas en hombres y deportistas con más de seis años de práctica). Los demás criterios sociodemográficos evaluados (nivel de estudios, modalidad, región de residencia, nivel competitivo y si el atleta tenía o no discapacidad) no mostraron diferencia significativa en sus promedios, lo que permite inferir que la escala puede ser utilizada con atletas con diferentes características. En general, se cree que el objetivo de esta tesis fue alcanzado satisfactoriamente y se puede afirmar que la Escala de Autoeficacia para Atletas Brasileños tiene propiedades psicométricas adecuadas para ser utilizada con atletas brasileños.