Health-Wellness Coaching Can Lower Stroke Risk

Health-wellness coaching (HWC) has grown as a useful tool to motivate individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles. For example, Lifestyle Change Coaching, which is a form of HWC, is an integral part of the CDC Diabetes Prevention Program. Healthy lifestyle changes can prevent type 2 diabetes. And healthy lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of stroke.

In order for HWC to be successful as a stroke-prevention intervention, a person must understand the factors that encourage and hinder long-term behavior change. A New Zealand study investigated the motivators and barriers to long-term behavior change among persons at risk of stroke after they received HWC for stroke prevention.

“Stroke is a leading cause of death and a major cause of disability in the United States. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is blocked, or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, causing damage to a part of the brain.” Some health, behavioral, and lifestyle factors can put individuals at a high risk for stroke. Important risk factors include high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and cigarette smoking. So, individuals can help prevent a stroke by making behavioral and lifestyle changes.

A health and wellness coach can help individuals identify those unique strengths that can enhance the individuals' current lifestyle patterns. Becoming aware of the need for health-behavior modification is often the first step to making lasting lifestyle changes. A person must understand health risks and how the risks can lead to conditions that affect quality of life, independence, and cause disabilities. Focusing on the risks may help to induce long-term behavior change.

In the New Zealand study, the researchers indicated that the purpose of HWC interventions should be to increase a person’s understanding of a disease’s impact, and the personal risk of not making a long-term lifestyle change. And this is true for stroke prevention. Some individuals who gained an understanding of how to lower the risk of strokes had a brighter outlook and a stronger feeling of self-efficacy, which is an essential element of lifestyle transformation.

Methods to make long-term health behavior change can be addressed by HWC. And HWC is being utilized more frequently in primary care to promote healthy lifestyle change. Lifestyle change can be prescribed in conjunction with prescription drugs. Future HWC programs for stroke prevention may be informed by the findings of the New Zealand study, particularly with regard to the motivators and inhibitors of long-term behavior change.

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