| Course | HW350 Principles of Health Coaching |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Self-efficacy and sustained gains paper |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health and Wellness |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HW350 Unit 5
From Four to Seven on the Confidence Ruler: A Unit 5 Paper on Building Self-Efficacy and Keeping Gains After Coaching Ends
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HW350: Principles of Health Coaching
Unit 5 Self-Efficacy and Sustained Gains Paper
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The client and coaching details are composite; the theory and studies cited are real.
Self-Efficacy
Bandura (1977) argued that confidence for a specific task predicts whether people attempt it and persist, and that it is built from experience rather than argument. Each of the four sources he described, mastery, models, persuasion and the reading of one's own body, appears in Gloria's story below.
For a coach, the theory matters because confidence can be built deliberately. A client with high importance and low confidence, like Gloria at intake, does not need more reasons to change; she needs experiences that convince her she can.
Why Confidence, Not Information
Gloria knew walking was good for her blood sugar before she ever met a coach; she had walked for a living for three decades. What she lacked after retirement was the belief that she could start again with a sore knee, no route and no one expecting her. That is why the coaching plan put confidence before information, and why each session ended with her rating it.
How Gloria's Confidence Grew
Her own successes. The first goal she chose was small: walking her granddaughter home from school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, about a mile each way. She succeeded every week for the first month. Each completed walk was recorded on her evening log, so she could see the successes add up. When she raised her own goal to four walks a week, it was because the smaller goal had become easy, not because I suggested it.
Others like her. Two women from her choir, both in their sixties and one with a knee replacement, joined her Saturday walks. Watching them walk three miles comfortably changed what she thought someone her age with a bad knee could do.
Encouragement. I reflected her successes back in sessions, specifically and without exaggeration: "You walked four days this week even with the rain on Wednesday." Her husband began asking about her step count each evening.
Her body's signals. At first she read knee soreness after walks as proof that she should not walk. With her nurse practitioner's guidance that mild soreness that settles by the next day was acceptable for her knee, she learned to distinguish normal effort from a warning sign, and her anxiety about walking fell.
Gloria did not become confident because I told her she could walk; she became confident because she walked, and kept a list of the days she did.
Does Coaching Build Self-Efficacy Reliably?
Yang et al. (2026), pooling 35 randomized trials of health coaching with more than 20,000 older adults, found small but significant improvements in self-efficacy, quality of life, anxiety and self-management behaviors, though not in depression, and with considerable variation between studies. The finding supports what happened with Gloria while reminding coaches that the average effect on confidence is modest and that coaching is not a treatment for depression, which is why her mood is being supported by a counselor.
Do the Gains Last?
The harder question is what happens after coaching ends. Ahmann et al. (2023), in a rapid systematic review of 28 coaching studies that measured outcomes after the coaching period, found that 25 showed gains that were partly or fully sustained or even improved at later follow-up. That is encouraging, but follow-up periods varied, and studies differed in what they measured.
Gloria's program ends after twelve sessions. Her biggest risk is the Omaha winter, when the school walks and the Saturday group may stop. If her walking depends on circumstances that disappear, her confidence may fall with it.
Designing for Sustained Gains
The final four sessions are designed around maintenance.
Build her own coaching skills. In each session, I ask her to name what made a good week work and what she would do if it stopped working. By the end, she should be doing the problem solving herself.
Plan for winter now. She has chosen two indoor options, the mall's morning walking program and a senior exercise class at her church, and will try both before the cold arrives.
Keep the vicarious and social sources. The choir walkers have agreed to move their Saturday walk to the mall in winter.
Fade the coaching gradually. Sessions move from every two weeks to every four, with a final check-in a month after the last session.
Record confidence directly. At the last session she will rate her confidence for walking in winter specifically, because self-efficacy is tied to situations, and her summer confidence may not transfer.
What Did Not Work
Not every attempt to build confidence succeeded. Early on I suggested a step-count goal of 7,000 a day, which Gloria accepted politely but missed for two weeks running. Her confidence rating dropped by a point. When we replaced the step target with the school walks she had chosen, which had a clear start and end and a person waiting, her success rate rose and her confidence with it. The lesson fits Bandura's account: goals chosen by someone else, and failed, can lower confidence, while self-chosen goals that are met raise it. A second misstep was praising her too generally in one session, saying she was "doing great," which she later said felt hollow. Specific feedback about what she had done worked much better.
How Confidence Was Measured
Each session began with the same question: on a scale from 0 to 10, how confident are you that you can walk on at least four days this coming week? Asking the same question about the same behavior every time made the changes meaningful. A general question about confidence would have mixed walking with snacking and sleep, where her confidence was lower.
Limits
Confidence ratings are self-reported and can rise from wanting to please the coach. Her successes so far have come in good weather and with strong social support. Sustained gains in research are measured at group level and do not guarantee them for one client.
Conclusion
Gloria's confidence rose from 4 to 7 through all four of Bandura's sources: small successes she chose, peers like her, specific encouragement and a better reading of her knee's signals. Evidence suggests coaching modestly improves self-efficacy and that gains often last, but not automatically. Her final sessions are designed to transfer the coaching skills to her and to protect her walking through the Omaha winter.
References
Ahmann, E., Saviet, M., Conboy, L., Smith, K., Iachini, B., & DeMartin, R. (2023). Health and wellness coaching and sustained gains: A rapid systematic review. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 18(2), 162-180. https://doi.org/10.1177/15598276231180117
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Yang, Y., Yu, L., Chen, Y., & Wang, Z. (2026). Effectiveness of health coaching interventions on anxiety, depression, self-management behaviors, self-efficacy, and quality of life among older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 23(1), e70108. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.70108
The Purdue Global HW350 Unit 5 instructions
Unit 5 typically asks how coaching builds a client's self-efficacy and whether gains last after coaching ends. Explain self-efficacy and its sources briefly, then show how they operated, or failed, in your client's case. Evidence on coaching's effect on confidence and on sustained gains should be reported with its limits. Instructors look for a plan that designs the end of coaching around maintenance rather than assuming gains will continue. Measuring confidence for a specific behavior, consistently, makes the paper concrete. Many prompts ask what threatens the gains, such as a change of season or loss of support. Reporting what did not work shows the theory was tested in practice, not simply illustrated with successes.
Inside the HW350 Unit 5 example
The paper opens with the confidence scores and why confidence, not information, was her gap. Bandura's account is summarized briefly, then each source is shown in her story, from her self-chosen school walks to her new reading of knee soreness, under a highlighted line that she became confident because she walked and kept a list. A section reports what did not work: a step target set for her and general praise. The measurement section explains the same weekly confidence question. Evidence follows from the older-adult coaching meta-analysis and the sustained gains review. Five maintenance steps prepare her for winter, from indoor walking to fading sessions and a separate winter confidence rating. Limits and a conclusion close the paper.
HW350 Unit 5 rubric: what earns full points
Self-efficacy papers earn credit through accurate theory, clear application and thoughtful maintenance planning. Each source of self-efficacy should be tied to a specific event in the client's case. Graders value honest reporting of what lowered confidence as well as what raised it. Confidence should be measured consistently for a defined behavior. Evidence should be summarized with effect sizes and limits. Maintenance strategies earn the most when each is linked to a source of self-efficacy and to a named threat, such as winter. Limits of self-report and of group-level evidence show care. Bandura's paper, the meta-analysis and the review should be listed in APA 7.
HW350 Unit 5 help: mistakes that cost points
Papers on self-efficacy often define the four sources and then describe a client who simply felt more confident over time, with no link between the two. Another common weakness is measuring confidence vaguely, without naming the behavior. Some writers claim coaching guarantees lasting gains, which the evidence does not support. Maintenance plans that consist of encouraging the client to keep going add little. Leaving out failures makes the case read as idealized, as if confidence only ever went up. Before writing, list your client's confidence ratings session by session and note what happened just before each rise or fall. Send that record, and the paper can be built around it.
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HW350 Unit 5 questions, answered
What is self-efficacy?
A person's confidence in their ability to carry out a specific behavior.
Do coaching gains last?
Many studies show partly or fully sustained gains, though follow-up periods vary.
How can a coach build self-efficacy?
Through small successes, modeling, encouragement and attention to how the client feels.
Where can I find a free HW350 Unit 5 sample paper?
The complete HW350 Unit 5 self-efficacy and sustained gains paper is on this page, explaining how a coaching client's confidence rose from 4 to 7 and how her gains will be protected.
What lowered confidence in the HW350 Unit 5 sample?
A daily step target the coach suggested, which she missed for two weeks, and general praise that felt hollow; self-chosen goals and specific feedback worked better.