Strategies for change in Exercise, Health and Lifestyle

Adopting effective strategies for change improves success!

• (American Psychological association, 2012)

• 57% of Americans wanted to lose weight

• 50% eat healthier

• 41% exercise regularly

• 52% save more money

• 37% pay off debt

Only 1 in 4 achieved their goal

• There are 10 intervention strategies that can help improve the outcomes.

1. Consciousness raising

• Making people aware of their behaviour/habits

• It may be subliminal

2. Emotional arousal

• Using evocative media to make people aware

– For example images of diseased lungs on cigarette packs

3. Social or environmental control

• Places that encourage good/bad behaviour

– For example non-alcoholic bars

– No smoking areas

– Smoking areas

• In inconvenient places

– Limiting the access to lifts

4. Environmental assessment

• Considering the effects of the environment due to their behaviour

– Passive smoking

– Role models to their family

5. Personal revisioning

• Forecasting what their lifestyle would be after the proposed change

– Losing weight

• Improved body perception

• Happiness

• Less risk of illness

6. Commitment

• Making the person own the goal

• Announce the goal publicly

7. Rewarding

• Praise

• Gifts

– The money saved from not smoking going towards a mini-break

8. Countering

• Substituting bad behaviour with good

– A glass of water instead of a chocolate bar

9. Environmental management or stimulus control

• Controlling the external environment

– Having a gym bag in the back of your car all the time

– Taking the stairs instead of the lift

– Not walking into town past the fast food restaurant

10. Social support

• Involve friends and families

• They are better than the lifestyle coach

Questions to ask to help with these strategies

• Identify behaviour and clarify its impact

• Get negative consequences if behaviour is not modified

• Recognise the influences of the environment and people they associate with

• Awaken emotions through media.

When giving the feedback

• Give a positive vision for the future

• Identify team ‘you’

• Weigh up the pros and cons of change

• Set clear goals and concrete plans

• Review social circle and its influence

• Brainstorm alternatives