%0 Journal Article
%T Health Communication Cards as a Tool for Behaviour Change
%A Carrie L. Matteson
%A Thomas D. N. Merth
%A Diane T. Finegood
%J ISRN Obesity
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/579083
%X Individuals seeking healthcare treatment in the context of obesity often experience difficulty engaging in discussions around their health and face challenges finding consensus with practitioners on care plans that best suit their lives. The complex set of biological, social, and environmental variables that have contributed to the higher prevalence of obesity are well illustrated in the foresight obesity system map. Effectively understanding and addressing key variables for each individual has proven to be difficult, with clinicians facing barriers and limited resources to help address patients¡¯ unique needs. However, productive discussions inspired by patient centered care may be particularly effective in promoting behaviour change. Tools based on systems science that facilitate patient centered care and help identify behaviour change priorities have not been developed to help treat adult obesity. This project created and pilot tested a card based clinical communication tool designed to help facilitate conversations with individuals engaged in health behaviour change. The health communication cards were designed to help direct conversation between patients and healthcare providers toward issues relevant to the individual. Use of the cards to facilitate patient driven conversations in clinical care may help to streamline conversations, set realistic care plan goals, and improve long term rates of compliance. 1. Introduction Obesity is widely recognized as a complex and serious health problem, yet overweight individuals struggle with losing weight and maintaining weight loss. Health professionals often feel ill equipped to offer support that may lead to success for their clients, and attempts to engage patients in conversations about weight reduction have decreased even in patient populations with the most need [1]. Obesity rates are forecasted to increase as much as 33% in the next 20 years [2], potentially adding to an already high annual estimated health care cost of over $140 billion [3]. The current high rates of obesity have emerged from a complex set of biological, social, and environmental variables. The foresight obesity system map illustrates this complexity, demonstrating 109 variables and 304 connections between them [4]. These variables represent the multiple levels of factors associated with obesity, from population to individual level variables. To successfully combat obesity as a society, solutions will likely need to target all of these levels. However, clinical treatment strategies often focus on individual behaviour change,
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.obesity/2014/579083/