Research: DHP Internship Health behaviour change communication in primary care: Health care professionals’ and trainees’ views

Abstract

Primary care health professionals frequently encounter patients suffering from illnesses associated with lifestyle choices. Behaviours such as smoking, drinking alcohol, engaging in poor diets and physical inactivity are well known to have contributed to the increase in lifestyle-related illnesses like coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Behaviour change theories and interventions have attempted to reverse thistrend yet lifestyle-related diseases remain the biggest killers in society. The current study aimed to explore health professionals’ views of their role in behaviour change in order to reduce the existing gap between behaviour change theory and implementation of behaviour change interventions within routine clinical practice. Theoretical sampling in accordance with grounded theory methodology guided a purposive sample (N=14) which included medical trainees and qualified general practitioners. Individual semi-structured interviews explored participants’ views of behaviour change management in primary care. Results showed that participants were largely sceptical over the types of techniques they believed to be effective to change patients’ unhealthy behaviour. Their skills in facilitating healthier behaviours had primarily occurred through personal experience rather than formal training. The results of this study indicate the importance of delivering consistent training to health care professionals about effective, evidence-based behaviour change strategies. Further work is required to investigate the barriers to behaviour change interventions and the most effective methods for training medical practitioners in effective theoretically informed behaviour change.