TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting lifestyle self-awareness among the medical team by the use of an integrated teaching approach
T2 - A primary care experience
AU - Ben-Arye, Eran
AU - Lear, Adva
AU - Hermoni, Doron
AU - Margalit, Ruth Stashefsky
PY - 2007/5
Y1 - 2007/5
N2 - Objectives: Healthy lifestyle is recommended in clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Research previously identified a gap between lifestyle recommendations and their implementation in clinical practice. In this paper, we describe a pilot educational program aimed to promote providers' awareness of their own lifestyles, and to explore whether increased personal awareness enhances providers' willingness to engage in lifestyle-change discussion with patients. Methods: Two primary-care urban clinics in Northern Israel participated in the program, which consisted of a series of six biweekly educational sessions, each lasting 2-4 hours. Each session included both knowledge-based and experiential learning based on complementary medicine modalities. Surveys at the end of the program and a year later provided the program evaluation. Results: Thirty-five personnel participated in the program. Thirteen (13) of the 20 participants (65%) reported an attitude change regarding eating habits after the program. At 1-year follow up, 24 of the 27 respondents (89%) stated that they were more aware of their eating habits and of their physical activity compared with precourse status. Twenty-three (23) of 27 respondents (85%) stated that after the program they were better prepared to initiate a conversation with their patients about lifestyle change. Conclusions: An integrated educational approach based on knowledge-based and complementary and alternative medicine experiential modalities, aimed to facilitate self-awareness, may enhance learners' attitude change. The findings demonstrate readiness of learners to reexamine their lifestyles. Increased self-awareness helped participants to make a positive attitude change regarding eating habits and physical activity and was associated with participants' increased engagement in lifestyle-change discussions with patients. The teaching approach had longstanding effect, noted in the one-year follow-up.
AB - Objectives: Healthy lifestyle is recommended in clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Research previously identified a gap between lifestyle recommendations and their implementation in clinical practice. In this paper, we describe a pilot educational program aimed to promote providers' awareness of their own lifestyles, and to explore whether increased personal awareness enhances providers' willingness to engage in lifestyle-change discussion with patients. Methods: Two primary-care urban clinics in Northern Israel participated in the program, which consisted of a series of six biweekly educational sessions, each lasting 2-4 hours. Each session included both knowledge-based and experiential learning based on complementary medicine modalities. Surveys at the end of the program and a year later provided the program evaluation. Results: Thirty-five personnel participated in the program. Thirteen (13) of the 20 participants (65%) reported an attitude change regarding eating habits after the program. At 1-year follow up, 24 of the 27 respondents (89%) stated that they were more aware of their eating habits and of their physical activity compared with precourse status. Twenty-three (23) of 27 respondents (85%) stated that after the program they were better prepared to initiate a conversation with their patients about lifestyle change. Conclusions: An integrated educational approach based on knowledge-based and complementary and alternative medicine experiential modalities, aimed to facilitate self-awareness, may enhance learners' attitude change. The findings demonstrate readiness of learners to reexamine their lifestyles. Increased self-awareness helped participants to make a positive attitude change regarding eating habits and physical activity and was associated with participants' increased engagement in lifestyle-change discussions with patients. The teaching approach had longstanding effect, noted in the one-year follow-up.
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U2 - 10.1089/acm.2007.6313
DO - 10.1089/acm.2007.6313
M3 - Article
C2 - 17532741
AN - SCOPUS:34249109368
SN - 1075-5535
VL - 13
SP - 461
EP - 469
JO - Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
JF - Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
IS - 4
ER -