Proposal
Use of Health Coaching tools and techniques to work with middle aged women at the weight loss boot camp and nutritional counseling center, to achieve positive and permanent weight loss results.
Problem and Solution
A known fact is that after certain age women have a harder time losing weight, mostly middle aged women. Approximately two-thirds of women gain weight or have a hard time maintaining their desired weight and losing weight becomes almost impossible. One of the main culprits is the changes in hormones that have a direct effect on appetite, metabolism, and fat storages (Stradler, 2014).
Other statistics indicate that 67% of Americans are overweight or obese, less than 3% of doctor’s visits discuss healthy nutrition, one in three adults have high blood pressure, and each year 70% of deaths are caused by chronic illness. In America, we spend $2.3 Trillion Dollars on Healthcare but only 2% goes toward prevention. (Golfeder, 2012). The weight loss industry makes approximately $20 Billion annually in diets, books, drugs and surgeries. (ABC, 2012). Women are looking for successful methods to combat the weight battle. Most people do not want to be told what to do or what they need to do to change, but most are willing to embrace change when the solution comes from a decision made within.
Nurse Coaches are helping individuals achieve their goals in the battle against weight loss. These coaches work in conjunction with doctors, nurses, and dietitians, helping individuals make healthy lifestyle choices, motivating them to make lasting health changes. The nurse coach is also a supportive mentor, helping the individual find the foods, fitness routines, relationships and lifestyles that make them feel their best. Nurse Coaching is a new successful approach of partnering with patients to enhance self-management strategies, change behaviors, and support a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle and optimal wellness (Huffman, 2007). Nurse Coaches also use S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) goal setting to achieve results, hold clients accountable, and motivate them to achieve tangible results.
According to the article by Melinda Huffman: “Health Coaching: A New and Exciting Technique to Enhance Patient Self-Management and Improve Outcomes” she quotes: “Health coaching is the practice of health education and health promotion within a Coaching context to enhance the well-being of individuals and to facilitate the achievement of their health-related goals (Palmer, Tubbs, & Whybrow, 2003). Health coaching effectively motivates behavior change through a structured, supportive partnership between the participant and the coach (Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine, 2006). The coach helps the participant to clarify goals and provides insight into goal achievement through inquiry, collaboration, and personal discovery.” Veenu Aulakh, MPH, Senior Program Officer for Chronic Disease Care for the California Health Care Foundation (2005), points out that the traditional model of a physician or provider to tell the patient what to do is not working. For successful behavior changes, it is not enough to tell people what to do but work in a collaborative manner to educate them on changes that need to happen and give them the tools, skills, and confidence to be able to make those changes (Huffman, 2007). Coaching is just such a tool.
Outcomes
With the use of Nurse Coaching techniques and tools, the women at the boot camp and nutritional center will find a dynamic and efficient way to lose weight and keep it off. It will provide an empowering and interactive way to deal with weight loss and improve their quality of life and lifestyle. Health Coaching facilitates the learning process, engages individuals in building new healthy habits, new behaviors, and long term solutions that create sustainable lifestyle changes. The studies show that coaching improves patient compliance and outcomes, and reduces health costs. Using tools such as S.M.A.R.T. goals, there is a way to collect metrics, measure results, foster accountability, and apply the coaching system to the weight loss goals while working in collaboration with the client to achieve real, intangible, desired results.
REFERENCES
Golfeder, C. (2012). New Study Suggests Health Coaches Are Key to Weight Loss. Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Retrieved November 17, 2 014. http://www.integrativenutrition.com/blog/2012/08/new-study-suggests-health-coaches- are-key-to-weight-loss
Harrar, S. (2014) “Boost Metabolism and Prevent Middle-Age Weight Gain - Surprising new ways to reverse middle-aged spread.” Good Housekeeping. Retrieved November 16, 2914. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-plans/boost-metabolism-lose-weight
Hess, D., Dossey, B., Southard, M., Luck, B., Bark, L. (2013). “The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching - The Provider’s Guide to Coaching Scope and Competences.” American Nurses Association. Silver Spring, MD. Nurses Books.org
Hess, D., Bark, L., Southard, M. (2010). “White
Paper:
Holistic
Nurse
Coaching.” American Nurses Association. Silver Spring, MD. Retrieved November 18, 2014. http://www.ahncc.org/images/Hess_White_Paper_Holistic_Nurse_Coaching-4.pdf
Huffman, M. (2007). Health Coaching: “A New and Exciting Technique to Enhance Patient Self-Management and Improve Outcomes.” Home Healhcare Nurse. April 200725 (4), 271-274. Retrieved November 17, 2014. http://www.wholehealtheducation.com/news/pdfs/health-coaching-for-health-care-providers.pdf
Luck, S., Dossey, B., Schaub, B. (2011). “Holistic Nurse Coach Leadership Can Transform Healthcare.” Beginnings by American Holistic Nursing Association. Pp 8-10 Winter 2011. Retrieved on November 18, 2014 http://inursecoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Beginnings-ArticleLuckDosseySchaubWinter11.pdf
Paturel, A. (2014). “How to Reverse Middle-Age Weight Gain.” WebMD Feature. June 2014 Retrieved November 20, 2014. http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/reverse-middle-age-weight-gain
Stradley L. (2014) “Menopause and Weight Gain - Is it inevitable or can it be prevented?” What’s Cooking America. Retrieved November 20, 2014. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/MenopauseWeightGain.htm
