If You Think You Can or Can't, You're Right: A Study of College Student Self-Efficacy Building through the UCSB Promise Scholars Program

This qualitative study assesses the influence of a college-level intervention program on its student participants' self-efficacy. Self-efficacy theory provides an essential foundational lens for this study as it provides the necessary sources to broaden an intervention program's plans from students' individualized experiences. Study participants are Promise Scholars at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). The program is offered to increase student college accessibility and yield a higher degree completion rate, particularly for minoritized or at-risk students. It aims to build student confidence by developing trust, autonomy, and responsibility. The program is newly instituted; therefore, a fuller understanding of the structural model's effectiveness will emerge by exploring six student reflections on their capability and value constructs using a mixed-method, multi-stage approach of surveys, interviews, and observations over a 10-week span using research questions: "How does the Promise Scholars program address barriers to students' perceived self-efficacy behaviors, beliefs, and perceptions?" "How do students describe their participant experience as it relates to their success?" Using students' narrative stories, this research approach allowed for understanding students' knowledge, thinking, and learning that included personal and environmental factors. Result themes included (a) turning points, (b) sense of belonging, (c) peers and social bonding, (d) perspective and thinking, (e) mentoring, feedback, and role models, and (f) affective states and self-regulation. These results show that intervention focusing on psychosocial states and self-efficacy improves engagement and yields successful outcomes that effective programs should consider for student success. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]