Readiness to change physical activity and dietary practices and willingness to consult healthcare providers.

Wendell C Taylor,M Monica Monica Sweeney,Andrea Cassells,Anita Vaughn,Jonathan N Tobin,Emily Lees,Joseph T Hepworth,Yolene Gousse

doi:10.1186/1478-4505-2-2

Abstract

BackgroundComplementary or discrepant stages of change for multiple risk behaviors can guide the development of effective risk reduction interventions for multiple risk factors. The objectives of this study were to assess readiness to change physical activity and dietary practices and the relationships among readiness scores for physical activity and dietary practices. In an underserved population, the readiness scores were analyzed in relationship to the patient's interest in communicating with healthcare providers about health behavior change. Healthcare providers are important contributors in promoting behavior change in community health centers.MethodsPatients completed questionnaires about communicating with healthcare providers and readiness to change physical activity, intake of fruits and vegetables, dietary fat, calories and weight management. Frequency distributions, correlations, and analysis of variance were computed.ResultsReadiness to change physical activity was not related to readiness to change dietary practices. Readiness to change fruit and vegetable intake and readiness to change dietary fat intake were significantly related. Readiness to change and interest in communicating with healthcare providers were significantly related for physical activity but not for dietary practices.ConclusionsReadiness to change behavior and interest in talking to healthcare providers were distinct dimensions; for physical activity, the dimensions were congruent and for dietary practices, the dimensions were unrelated. Readiness to change physical activity and dietary practices were not related (discrepant stages of readiness). Therefore, among underserved populations, sequential rather than simultaneous interventions may be appropriate when intervening on multiple risk behaviors, particularly physical activity and dietary practices.

Highlights

Complementary or discrepant stages of change for multiple risk behaviors can guide the development of effective risk reduction interventions for multiple risk factors
Interest in discussing physical activity was significantly related to interest in discussing nutrition with their healthcare provider
The relationship between readiness and interest in discussing health behaviors with their healthcare provider was different for physical activity and nutrition

Summary

Introduction

Complementary or discrepant stages of change for multiple risk behaviors can guide the development of effective risk reduction interventions for multiple risk factors. The readiness scores were analyzed in relationship to the patient's interest in communicating with healthcare providers about health behavior change. Physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating habits are major risk factors for chronic disease, disability, and premature death [3,4,5]. A better understanding of the relationships among multiple behavioral risk factors is important for the design of individual, clinical, and public health interventions, cost-effective interventions to target high-risk individuals and population subgroups [9]. From a behavioral sciences perspective, the stages of change from the Transtheoretical Model suggest that individuals can be at different stages of readiness to change for different behavioral risk factors. Motivational readiness described in the stages of change model [11] has been used to tailor interventions to an individual's level of motivational readiness to change behavior. Interventions tailored to match level of motivational readiness outperform standard interventions [12]

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