Over the last decade the focus of the NHS has changed, from simply treating ill health to improving the health of the nation through education and encouraging behaviour change. A number of national health campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles such as Stoptober, Change 4 Life and Dry January are now annual events. These events are designed to raise public awareness of key health issues and encourage them to take action to benefit their own health. Whilst these campaigns are high profile and many people are aware of them the desired outcome of behaviour change is not happening and incidences of chronic conditions, e.g. diabetes and heart disease are rising. Health Education England (HEE) estimate that 40 per cent of the UK’s disability adjusted life years* lost are attributable to tobacco, hypertension, alcohol, being overweight or being physically inactive (source: www.makingeverycontactcount.co.uk).

This module will look at how you can start the conversation with patients about making changes to improve their lifestyle and how you can encourage them to change their behaviour to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Explain the principle of Making Every Contact Count.
• Describe the key elements that impact on a patient changing their behaviour.
• Recognise the components required to effectively communicate with patients.
• Implement theories to help patients make changes to improve their health behaviours.