Sind Intention und Planung von Erholung geeignete Prädiktoren zur Vorhersage von Erholungsverhalten? Eine Studie zur internen Validität des Health Action Process Approach

Mentally health problems among teachers, especially towards the end of their working career, were in the focus of research the last few years. Experienced strain and stress, respectively, seemed to play an important role in the development of mentally health problems. In recent studies sufficient recovery and recreation are discussed as protective factors. So far there hasn´t been much knowledge about how recreation behavior can be predicted or explained. In this present study, the social-cognitive variables of the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA, Schwarzer, 2008b) were adapted to recreation behavior and used for the prediction of recreation intentions and recreation behavior. The first step was the operationalisation of the “recreation intention” scale by using explorative factor analysis. Importance of recreation was added as another predictor for recreation intentions. This construct was taken from the theory of “Motivational Counseling”. A sample of 173 people was used for testing the hypothesis in a longitudinal design conducting regression and mediator analysis. Unexpectedly, importance of recreation resulted as the only significant predictor of recreation intentions in the multivariate analysis. Recreation intentions, recreation planning and recreation related self-efficacy predicted significantly recreation behavior, with recreation intentions being the most important predictor. Furthermore, the intention-behavior-gap was almost completely eliminated. Recreation planning partially mediated between intention and behavior. Results are discussed in their meaning for theory development and in the background of practical implications to aid recreation behavior and therefore health among teachers. Potential research questions are presented based on the results.