RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Behavior-Change Action Plans in Primary Care: A Feasibility Study of Clinicians
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 215
OP 223
DO 10.3122/jabfm.19.3.215
VO 19
IS 3
A1 Kate MacGregor
A1 Margaret Handley
A1 Sharon Wong
A1 Claire Sharifi
A1 Ken Gjeltema
A1 Dean Schillinger
A1 Thomas Bodenheimer
YR 2006
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/19/3/215.abstract
AB Purpose: Collaborative goal-setting—with clinician and patient together deciding on concrete behavior-change goals—may be more effective in encouraging healthy behaviors than traditional clinician-directed advice. This study explores whether it is feasible for clinicians to engage patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors in collaborative goal-setting and concrete action planning during the primary care visit.Methods: Primary care clinicians were trained in goal-setting and action planning techniques and asked to conduct action plan discussions with study patients during medical visits. Clinicians’ experiences were documented through post-visit surveys and with questionnaires and semistructured interviews at the end of the study.Results: Forty-three clinicians and 274 patients with CHD risk factors participated in the study; 83% of the patient encounters resulted in a behavior-change action plan. Goal-setting discussions lasted an average of 6.9 minutes. Clinicians rated 75% of the discussions as equally or more satisfying than previous behavior-change discussions, and identified time constraints as the most important barrier to adopting the goal-setting process.Conclusions: Collaborative goal-setting between clinicians and patients for improved health behaviors is viewed favorably by clinicians in primary care. Time constraints could be addressed by delegating goal-setting to other caregivers.