Behavior-Change Action Plans in Primary Care: A Feasibility Study of Clinicians

JABFM, May - June 2006, Volume 19 Number 3

Purpose: Collaborative goal-setting—with clinician and patient together deciding on concrete behaviorchange goals—may be more effective in encouraging healthy behaviors than traditional clinician-directed advice. This study explores whether it is feasible for clinicians to engage patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors in collaborative goal-setting and concrete action planning during the primary care visit.

Methods: Primary care clinicians were trained in goal-setting and action planning techniques and asked to conduct action plan discussions with study patients during medical visits. Clinicians’ experiences were documented through post-visit surveys and with questionnaires and semistructured interviews at the end of the study.

Results: Forty-three clinicians and 274 patients with CHD risk factors participated in the study; 83% of the patient encounters resulted in a behavior-change action plan. Goal-setting discussions lasted an average of 6.9 minutes. Clinicians rated 75% of the discussions as equally or more satisfying than previous behavior-change discussions, and identified time constraints as the most important barrier to adopting the goal-setting process.

Conclusions: Collaborative goal-setting between clinicians and patients for improved health behaviors is viewed favorably by clinicians in primary care. Time constraints could be addressed by delegating goal-setting to other caregivers.