Health Coaching in Integrated Care

Abstract

Health care in the United States is in transition. Facilitating individual patient and population-based lifestyle change is critical for creating a healthier country. Fostering prevention, promoting lifestyle change, and dealing with the high incidence and prevalence of chronic disease is within the purview of health coaching, a new health discipline. This chapter describes the emergence, theories and methodologies, and efficacy of health coaching. We describe health coaching in practice, as primary care and integrated care environments begin to incorporate health coaching within multidisciplinary health care teams. Five major coaching approaches are discussed: the transtheoretical model (stages of change), motivational interviewing, solution-focused coaching, cognitive-behavioral coaching, and mindfulness-based stress reduction. An example of a brief coaching session is presented.