Finally, the IMB model identifies behavioral skills as a critical core determinant of complex
health behaviors, which influences whether well-informed and well-motivated individuals
will be capable of carrying out the health behavior effectively (Bandura, 1986). Behavioral
skills include objective and perceived skills for performing the behavior (i.e., being able to
enact the potentially complex and novel steps involved in its performance) and a sense of
self-efficacy for doing so (i.e., one’s confidence in implementing the behavior in a variety of
settings). Articulated to diabetes self-care behavior, behavioral skills may involve the ability
to adequately perform a specific diabetes self-care behavior (e.g., one’s ability and
confidence in monitoring carbohydrates - by identifying carbohydrate and serving size
information on food labels, accurately calculating carbohydrate grams per serving of food,
and estimating the appropriate serving size based on this amount; and the ability and
confidence in exercising in different commonly occurring challenging situations - when the
weather is bad, identifying a convenient time to exercise, after a long break in activity).