Behavior Change Communication for Health Coaches

Beginning the conversation on why differences matter in coaching. Your differences compared to your clients, and differences between clients. All of these differences play a key role in an individuals health literacy on a specific topic.

Exploring social factors that often lead to economic struggle and poor health outcomes. The five areas of Social Determinants of Health are:

1. Economic Stability (Quality and availability of jobs, food, and housing)

2. Social & Community Context (crime, violence, family structure)

3. Health & Healthcare (access to health services)

4. Neighborhood and Built Environments (infrastructure)

5. Education (Access to early childhood, high school, and higher Ed)

More info on ACES

• https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html

• https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/adverse-childhood-experiences-aces.aspx

Fact: Two people with the same health goals will have different challenges depending on the social determinants they face.

The experience of life and health will be different depending on what you are born with and what you are offered in your life.

People that are most effected by social determinants of health

• Ethic Minorities (Displaced Ethnicities)

• Racial Minorities (Displaced Races)

• Children of these two groups

Causes and Drivers of Disparities

• Living in Rural Areas

• Living in Low Income Areas

• Compounding factors (SDOHs)

• Consumerism and wealth exclusivity

Thinking about and answering these questions

• How is health literacy predicted?

• What are the correlation to regular literacy (education level, reading capability) and health literacy?

• What do we do with this information?

Test your knowledge on exercise physiology! What do you know about this topic?

A deeper look into testing and understanding health literacy using systematically researched and tested screening tools.

A key performance indicator of success in any health related coaching practice is improving health literacy. You want your clients to go away with applicable and actionable information that they feel empowered and motivated to use. This is the whole point! Do they understand this information? How can we help them better understand?

This section covers health literacy improvement strategies for both written and verbal communications.

Flex your new skill of predicting someone's health literacy in these prompts.

Beginning the conversation on change management and change aversion

Cultural Competency:

The ability for a person (healthcare provider) to effectively interact with other people (patients) across cultures.

We can be more effective in our communication of health information if we understand the culture of the person we are speaking with.

Cultural Competencies

1. Recognize that you have a cultural shape to your set of values, beliefs, and feelings

2. Understand that you would have a different set of values, beliefs, and feelings if you were from a different culture

3. Become aware of the different ways that culture shapes values, beliefs, and feelings

4. Develop a positive attitude toward different cultural practices

Transtheoretical Model of Change is a tool that behavioralists use to categorize and predict how adverse to change a person is. A person is more likely to change the higher the stage of change. I provide additional context on how to change your approach depending on the stage of change a person is in.

There are 5 stages covered in this model:

• Stage 0- Pre-contemplation

• Stage 1- Contemplation

• Stage 2- Preparation

• Stage 3- Action

• Stage 4- Maintenance

• Stage 5- Termination / Relapse

  
  

The lower the stage of change, the more empathy and compassion this person will need.

The higher the stage of change, the more challenge, feedback, education, and goals they will be able to tolerate.

Taking a deeper dive into each stage, how to recognize the language from each stage, and how to adjust your approach to each stage. Success in behavior change comes from moving a client from a lower stage of change to a higher stage of change.

Integrate and think critically about how to use this skill within your practice and with your clients.

Beginning the conversation about communication design. How you say something is just as important (and maybe more important) than what you say. This master skill builds on the last two modules and takes into account how much a person needs (health literacy) to know and what they are willing to learn (TTM stage of change) in order to make a sustainable change in behavior.

In this section, we discuss the importance of communication and the correlation with outcomes. We know that people change when they feel heard, understood, respected, valued, supported, and capable. Using Motivational Interviewing, we can provide that to our clients.

OARS is the key concepts of MI. there are 10 core skills to MI, but theses 4 are the primary skills and the most valuable to start with.

O- Open Ended Questions to get people talking, information gathering

A- Affirmations to highlight self-efficacy and resiliency

R- Reflections to clarify and demonstrate active listening

S- Summaries to move the conversation toward an action

A deeper dive into using OARS in your coaching conversations to drive behavior change.

Strategies for tough barriers and Stage 0 clients

Real client stories about my use of MI with coaching clients and the results I saw.

A practical approach to helping clients set goals.

Additional skills in the MI suite that are outside of the OARS framework.

Integrate and practice your skills.

Congratulations on completing your course material!

Follow the link to take your certification exam. You must pass the exam with 85% or better to become certified. If you do not receive a passing score, please contact me at brea@ssohealth.com

Once you have submitted, please allow 3-5 business days to receive a copy of your results and your certificate via email.

Make sure to provide an accurate email address and to check your spam or junk folders if you have not received your certificate within the allotted time.

If you need further assistance with the certification or exam, please contact brea@ssohealth.com

Take The Certification Exam at: https://forms.gle/Z8gw8nw6gySjyTND8