Copyright (c) PNG Publications. All rights reserved. Delivered by Ingenta to IP: 5.189.207.160 on: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:07:49 796 W ith about 21 million practitioners, the popularity of yoga continues to grow in the United States. 1 Carefully tailored yoga practice has been shown to support health and wellbeing by reducing chronic back pain, 2 stress, 3,4 anxiety, 5 and depression. 6 The practice also lowers blood pressure, 7 improves overall physical ftness and increases quality of life. 8-10 Unfortunately, not all individuals who could beneft choose to adopt and maintain a yoga practice. National surveys suggest that yoga users are likely to be women, col- lege educated, younger, non-Hispanic white, who have higher income, and a baseline good health status. 1,11 In addition to these demographic fac- tors, there may be individual attitudes and beliefs that infuence the choice to participate in yoga. Outcome expectations are attitudes and beliefs about whether engaging in a target behavior will lead to a specifc or desired outcome. 12 This con- struct, based in Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), has proven to be an important determinant of specifc behaviors. 13 SCT purports that favorable expecta- tions regarding outcomes, and satisfaction with those outcomes, are likely to motivate individu- als to initiate and maintain the target behavior. 14 For example, expectations of outcomes such as life enhancement, physical health, and emotional benefts have been associated with adoption and maintenance of physical activity. 15-17 Outcome ex- pectations also have been found to be signifcant predictors of use of complementary therapies. 18,19 Similarly, expectations regarding outcomes re- lated to yoga practice may determine one’s choices to participate in yoga programs. The assessment of attitudes and beliefs associated with practicing yoga may help inform intervention approaches and Herpreet Thind, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA. Marie A. Sillice, Postdoctoral Fel- low, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. Joseph L. Fava, Research Associate, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. Ryan Lantini, Project Director, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. Santina Horowitz, Project Director, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. Ernestine Jennings, Assistant Professor, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. Rochelle K. Rosen, Assistant Professor, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. James Carmody, Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. Bruce M. Becker, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown Uni- versity, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI. Bess H. Marcus, Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA and Beth C. Bock, Professor, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI. Correspondence Dr Thind; Herpreet_Thind@uml.edu Development and Validation of the Outcome Expectations for Yoga Scale Herpreet Thind, PhD, MPH, MBBS; Marie A. Sillice, PhD; Joseph L. Fava, PhD; Ryan Lantini, MA; Santina Horowitz, BS; Ernestine Jennings, PhD; Rochelle K. Rosen, PhD; James Carmody, PhD; Bruce M. Becker, MD; Bess H. Marcus, PhD; Beth C. Bock, PhD Objective: Our objective was to develop an instrument that can measure outcome expectations of yoga and to evaluate the instrument for internal consistency and initial construct validity. Methods: A 20- item scale was developed to assess physi- cal, mental, and spiritual health benefts related to yoga practice among adults. The scale was tested in a baseline survey with adults participating in a clinical trial. Principal component analysis was used to investigate the internal structure of the measure. Outcome expectations for yoga were examined for demographic differ- ences. Results: The sample (N = 185) was 54% women, 89% white and had a mean age of 46 years. The fnal 20-item scale had high item loadings that ranged from .57 to .88 with a Cronbach’s alpha value of .96. Signifcant differences were found in outcome expectation score by sex. Conclusion: This newly developed scale can be used to assess outcome expecta- tions for yoga and tailor interventions to promote adherence to yoga practice. Key words: yoga; outcome expecta- tions; psychometric; scale development; validation Am J Health Behav. 2017;41(6):796-802 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.41.6.13