2010 OPEN FORUM Abstracts
EVALUATION OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY HEALTH COACH TRAINING PROGRAM
Crystal L. Dunlevy, Derick T. Asah, Alodie P. Lim, Donica C. Marks, Lacey A. Schissler-Lambotte, Lauren M. Speakman; School of Allied Medical Professions, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
BACKGROUND: Competent health coaches have the ability to positively affect client health outcomes, yet the medical literature lacks standards for the development of health coach training programs. We evaluated a four-day training program for OSU Health Coaches that included equal parts didactic instruction about nine health risk assessment areas and hands on practice using motivational interviewing (MI) techniques. METHOD: Seven trainees completed content examinations on health risk assessment areas and Likert-type surveys that assessed confidence with MI techniques and self-efficacy with all components of health coaching, both before and after training, and 90 days post-training. Scores were compared using paired t-tests, with p < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Post-training assessment revealed a significant increase in confidence using MI techniques (p = 0.04) and improvement in all other areas of health coaching. Regarding MI, participants maintained their level of confidence 90 months post-training compared with pre-training (p = 0.03). Confidence levels with MI at 90 days did not differ from post-training (p = 0.62). Improvements in other aspects of health coaching were also maintained at 90 days, but they did not reach a level of statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the use of a training program that devotes the same amount of time to hands-on practice using MI techniques as it does to didactic information about components of a typical health coaching session on the various risk assessment topics. Sponsored Research - None