Top Things to Know: Better Population Health Through Behavior Change in Adults
Published: October 07, 2013
- With direct annual cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related costs expected to reach $818 billion in 2030, it has become imperative that more preventative approaches are taken in order to avoid bankrupting the healthcare system.
- Eliminating health risk behaviors related to diet, physical activity, body weight, and smoking could potentially prevent at least 80% of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, as well as 40% of cancers.
- While the medical and intensive behavioral therapy necessary to treat high-risk patients may initially be costly, these strategies can prevent more expensive medical treatments or hospitalization in the future.
- The 5 A’s approach, which has demonstrated effectiveness in the modification of health behaviors ranging from smoking to physical activity, includes steps that can be completed during a medical office visit:
- Assess the risk behavior
- Advise change
- Agree on an action plan
- Assist with treatment
- Arrange follow-up
- A patient-centered strategy, in which providers ask open-ended questions, avoid commanding language, and help patients create plans to reach their own goals can foster health behavior changes in individuals.
- By connecting patients with health-promoting neighborhood resources, computer programs, applications, sensors, and online communities, clinicians can help support healthy lifestyle changes during the periods these individuals are out of contact with healthcare providers.
- Collaboration among physicians and other health professionals, such as clinical health psychologists, dieticians, kinesiologists, and health educators leads to greater distribution of care, and can facilitate higher-quality, more cost-effective treatment.
- Continued provider training related to health behavior targets, evidence-based behavioral change strategies, and ethnic and cultural considerations can improve the rate of patient success.
- Electronic systems that help track health behaviors, link providers to current guidelines, and/or schedule and track initial and follow-up visits can support health behavior change.
- Individual clinical and population-level approaches are necessary to reduce the prevalence of risk factors including tobacco use, obesity, poor-quality diet, and physical inactivity.
Citation
Spring B, Ockene JK, Gidding SS, Mozaffarian D, Moore S, Rosal MC, Brown MD, Vafiadis D, Cohen DL, Burke LE, Lloyd-Jones D; on behalf of the American Heart Association Behavior Change Committee of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health, Council for High Blood Pressure Research, and Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing. Better population health through behavior change in adults: a call to action. Circulation. 2013: published online before print October 7, 2013, 10.1161/01.cir.0000435173.25936.e1.