Health and Behavior
Techniques to Facilitate Change in Patients

LEARNING OUTCOME AND OBJECTIVES:  

• Explain the concept of a change agent.
• Discuss outcome-driven change.
• Describe the stages of the Transtheoretical (Stages of Change) Model.
• Explain various other models of change.
• Identify factors affecting an individual’s ability to change.
• Describe communication techniques that healthcare professionals use to facilitate behavioral change.

INTRODUCTION

Changing a behavior and forming new habits are hard to accomplish, and healthcare professionals are often frustrated when patients do not follow medical advice or treatment recommendations. It may be difficult to understand the reluctance or unwillingness of a patient to make important changes that have been shown to improve health and well-being, especially after healthcare professionals have repeatedly stressed the importance of doing so. In the United States, for example:

• Only about 50% of patients who leave a healthcare setting with a prescription for medication take the medication as directed. The most common reasons given for not adhering to medication regimens are denial of illness, lack of knowledge about the benefits of taking the medication, and cost.
• At least 61% of patients with schizophrenia, 57% of patients with bipolar disorder, and 52% of patients with depression had problems with adherence to their treatment regimens.
• Nonadherence is believed to result in 125,000 deaths due to cardiovascular disorders each year.
• If patients adhered to their drug regimens, up to 23% of nursing home admissions, 10% of hospital admissions, many physician visits, many diagnostic tests, and many unnecessary treatments could be avoided.
• In 2020, almost 70% of adults who smoke said they want to quit, but only 3 in 5 adults who ever smoked have successfully quit. It is not easy to stop smoking due to withdrawal symptoms (e.g., irritability, trouble concentrating) and daily activities associated with smoking (e.g., drinking coffee in the morning, during social situations where others are smoking).
  (CDC, 2022a, 2022b; Lynch, 2019; Malik et al., 2020; Surgeon General, 2020)

THE CLINICIAN AS CHANGE AGENT

Recognizing both the difficulties and resistance to change, researchers continue to examine the nature of change and how healthcare professionals can motivate, educate, and support individuals throughout the process of change. All clinicians serve as change agents, whether they realize it or not. A change agent is a person or group that facilitates the change process (Grandison, 2022).

Change is essential for patients (and their loved ones) to achieve maximum wellness. Most, if not all, patients need to make some types of behavioral change. But providing adequate education and finding the time to teach makes working as an effective change agent challenging for clinicians.

Grandison (2022) suggests five ways to be an effective agent, which are adapted below for the healthcare setting.

Embrace Resistance

People are often resistant to change, and healthcare professionals must become comfortable when dealing with such resistance. Patients who must change diets, take new medications, or deal with a newly diagnosed chronic illness are likely to deny that a change is necessary. This can be an instinctive reaction to bad news. If healthcare professionals anticipate resistance, they will not be taken off guard when it occurs. It is important to identify common sources of resistance and plan for a variety of ways to address them. (See also “Factors Affecting Change” later in this course.)

Co-Create the Vision

Healthcare professionals, patients, and families should work together to create a vision of patient behavioral change. Frequent and consistent communication among these groups is absolutely necessary. Since time to facilitate change can be limited, it is helpful to develop a consistent manner of providing patient education, including establishing objectives, no matter the setting. While it is true that most healthcare facilities have written education materials to distribute, such materials are often not sufficient. It is imperative that actual learning be evaluated.

Get Buy-In

Patients and families will not change their behavior unless they want to change and have the means to do so. Getting “buy-in” has its foundation in realism and practicality. If patients see the change goal as achievable, they are more likely to buy in. Therefore, part of the education to achieve behavioral change must include a complete assessment, including issues such as finances, ability to plan meals, available transportation options, etc., to make sure the plan is achievable. These types of assessment questions should be included on any and all education assessment forms. Information gathered are then used to implement change.

For example, a patient at risk for obesity-related conditions may not feel the need to lose weight. The patient may say they “feel fine” and that they enjoy eating, especially at family get-togethers. They may also believe that any significant weight loss is impossible given their family’s eating habits. In cases such as these, it is imperative that families become invested in helping the patient “buy in” to achieve weight-loss goals. Healthcare professionals can meet with both patient and family members to discuss what factors might motivate them all to work on behavioral change. For instance, changes in what is served at family gatherings may allow for calorie reduction while maintaining social contact. Or incorporating exercise into family activities (such as walking together after meals) might seem more inviting if it allows the patient to spend more time with grandchildren.

Other patients may already want to change health-related behaviors to live longer or to feel better but may be unable to acquire what is necessary (e.g., the funds to purchase prescribed medications) to make necessary changes. It is imperative that healthcare professionals have knowledge of various resources designed to help offset healthcare expenses and that they share such knowledge with patients and families.

Create a Track Record

The vision of change must be implemented in a practical way. Consistency is important and helps to make the education process more time efficient. A written tool for assessment (with space for individualization) and the education plan should be documented in the medical record. This helps the entire healthcare team track what progress (or lack of progress) has been made. Ways of facilitating patient compliance, change, and patient/family education should be part of all staff meetings. Consistent discussion and established ways of implementing education in healthcare help to create a track record of success, or lack of success, and can improve outcomes.

Make Change Normal

It is important to help patients and families view change as normal, although this is easier said than done. Few people “love” change. Whether a change in one’s healthcare routine is temporary (for acute issues) or long-term (for chronic issues), helping change to become a regular part of a patient’s health maintenance will go far in facilitating compliance.

It is important to approach present behavioral health change as a “normal” process and to avoid making it overly complicated. Goals must be realistic and achievable. For example, a patient who is dealing with severe hypertension and has consumed a diet high in sodium throughout their life is not likely to immediately reduce their salt intake significantly. Expecting an immediate, total reduction in salt intake is unrealistic for patients such as this. Instead, the clinician can break the target goal of reduced sodium intake into incremental decreases.

OUTCOME-DRIVEN CHANGE

All planned change has an end goal: a specific outcome the planner hopes to achieve. An outcome-driven approach concentrates on specific, measurable objectives to determine the impact a treatment or intervention has on the health of a patient or groups of patients (Harvard Catalyst, 2018).

For example, suppose a patient is working on losing a total of 50 pounds, which can sound overwhelming. An outcome-driven approach might employ agreeing with the patient on a measurable outcome, such as “lose 1–2 pounds a week for a total of 4–8 pounds before the next office visit in one month.”

Outcome Measures

The top seven healthcare outcome measures are linked to behavioral change. If patients do not adopt healthy behaviors, any one of the following outcomes can be compromised. These seven outcome measures are:

1. Mortality. Failure to comply with treatment regimens can lead to an increase in mortality rates.
2. Safety of care. Safety, in the instances of desired health-related behavioral changes, can be linked to education. Although healthcare professionals cannot “make” patients adopt important behavioral changes, they are responsible for making sure appropriate information is relayed and for objectively evaluating patient/family knowledge.
3. Readmissions. Readmission because of noncompliance is a significant problem. Research suggests that in one year, $25–$45 billion is spent on avoidable complications and unnecessary hospital admissions.
4. Patient experience. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are not only an important indicator of satisfaction with services but can provide information about how well patients were taught about their treatment regimens.
5. Effectiveness of care. Effectiveness of care includes compliance with best-practice guidelines and actual achieved patient outcomes.
6. Timeliness of care. Timeliness-of-care outcomes evaluate patient access to care. This includes not only how quickly adequate care is provided but also how effective patient education has been. In other words, did patients (and families) receive the necessary education to make appropriate behavioral changes in a timely manner?
7. Efficient use of medical imaging. Although not directly related to behavioral change, efficient use of medical imaging indicates adherence to best-practice standards.
   (Tinker, 2022)

Three essentials for successfully measuring healthcare outcomes are:

• Data transparency. Publicly reported healthcare outcomes help to show that patients are receiving the best care in the most cost-effective way.
• Integrated care and transitions of care. Patient transitions throughout the healthcare system should be coordinated. All members of the healthcare team are responsible for managing quality care and providing safe and appropriate care at all transitional points of care.
• Data interoperability. Sharing data between departments is essential. Achieving outcomes and system improvement depends on ability to share data across clinicians, labs, hospitals, clinics, staff, etc. Data interoperability provides a single source of truth.
  (Tinker, 2022)

Outcome-Driven Approach for Healthcare Systems

In 2014, the Quadruple Aim (adapted from the Triple Aim) was developed as a model to optimize the performance and productivity of healthcare systems. The Quadruple Aim focuses on improving:

• Healthcare costs
• Patient experience
• Population health
• Healthcare team well-being
  (Arnetz et al., 2020)

Experts are now considering adding a fifth aim of advancing health equity, which is defined as “the state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain their full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.” In order to effectively address this fifth aim, change is also necessary. This change focuses on the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions to identify and reduce disparities (Nundy et al., 2022).

THEORIES AND MODELS OF CHANGE

In order to help patients make change and to maximize the success of interventions, it is important that healthcare professionals have a theoretical understanding of change. Such theory comes from the accumulated knowledge about what mediates and moderates change behavior.

Following are four major theories and models of behavior change:

• Transtheoretical Model (TTM) (also referred to as Stages of Change): Change is a process involving progress through a series of stages.
• Theory of Planned Behavior (TBP): Change in behavior is determined by intention to perform the behavior.
• Health Belief Model (HBM): Behaviors are based on attitudes and beliefs.
• Social Cognitive Theory (SCT): Change is driven through interaction between environment, personal factors, and attitudes.

Transtheoretical Model (TTM)

Of the four major theories and models, the most widely applied and tested is the Transtheoretical Model, also referred to as Stages of Change. This model identifies six sequential stages that people move through as they change from old behaviors to new ones:

1. Precontemplation
2. Contemplation
3. Preparation
4. Action
5. Maintenance
6. Termination
   (UMBC, n.d.; Gold, 2018)

STAGE 1: PRECONTEMPLATION

Precontemplation is the stage when there is no conscious intent to make a change. In this stage, people are not even thinking about changing their behaviors. They may not see current behaviors as problematic or may think that the problem is being exaggerated.

STAGE 2: CONTEMPLATION

Contemplation is the stage when individuals are aware that the behavior is a problem and intend to change behavior relatively soon, but they may vacillate for a long period of time. Often, people in the contemplation stage are not yet truly ready to change. They may procrastinate or doubt their ability to change. Individuals in this stage are often highly ambivalent, may be interested in learning about how to make change, but still cannot make a decision (Moore, 2021).

STAGE 3: PREPARATION

Preparation is the stage in which individuals know they must change and become committed to take action to change. The pros of change outweigh the cons. Often something happens to motivate a person to take action, such as an emotion-laden crisis, recent illness, or plea from an important person in their life. During this stage, not all ambivalence has been resolved, but it is no longer an impossible barrier to overcome. The person may develop a plan of action but not yet be completely committed to actually changing the behavior (UMBC, n.d.).

STAGE 4: ACTION

This is the stage where people believe they have the ability to change behavior and are actively involved in taking steps to do so (Gold, 2018). This is the beginning of actual change, when goals and objectives are identified. It is also the stage when relapse and subsequent regression to an earlier stage is most likely (UMBC, n.d.). Clinicians should be aware of this potential and help patients/families to be especially vigilant. The patient needs support from family and friends as well as from the healthcare team. Members of the team should check in more often with patients and listen to concerns and issues affecting change.

This is the stage when patients develop new habits and work toward what some have called “SMART objectives” (see table below).

SMART OBJECTIVES

Objective	Example
(CDC, n.d.)
Specific	Answers the question “What is to be done?” (e.g., deciding, “I will no longer smoke cigarettes or any other substance.”)
Measurable	Answers the question “How will I know I’ve met expectations?” (e.g., determining that “I will not keep any cigarettes, even an ‘emergency smoke,’ in my environment.”)
Achievable	Answers the question “Can I do this?” (e.g., reassuring oneself by thinking, “I have overcome other cravings. Other people have stopped smoking, and I can too.”)
Relevant	Answers the question, “Should it be done and why?” (e.g., realizing that “Smoking is not necessary for me to enjoy life; in fact, it may kill me.”)
Time-bound	Answers the question, “When will this be accomplished?” (e.g., setting the goal, “I will stop smoking by January 1, the beginning of a new year.”)

STAGE 5: MAINTENANCE

Patients are thought to be in maintenance when they have attained and maintained desired behavioral change for at least six months. Although the risk for relapse still exists, it is less, and patients need to exert less effort to maintain the change (UMBC, n.d.).

STAGE 6: TERMINATION

Termination is the point at which temptation to relapse is no longer a threat. The person now has complete confidence that change has been accomplished and no longer fears relapse (Moore, 2021; UMBC, n.d.).

Other Theories and Models of Change

Although the TTM is the most widely applied and tested model, there are other theories and models of change in use. Some of the more common ones are briefly explained below.

THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR (TBP)

The Theory of Planned Behavior has been successfully used to predict and explain a wide variety of health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, utilization of health services, breastfeeding, and substance use. TBP is composed of six components:

1. Attitudes: Refers to the degree to which patients have a favorable or unfavorable view of the behavior that needs to be changed
2. Behavioral intention: Refers to the factors that influence the intention to change behavior
3. Subjective norms: Refers to the belief about whether most people approve or disapprove of the behavior; relates to how peers and other people important to the patient feel about the need for the behavioral change
4. Social norms: Refers to customary codes of behavior in a group of people or in a culture
5. Perceived power: Refers to patients’ perceptions of factors that may facilitate or inhibit behavioral change
6. Perceived behavioral control: Refers to patients’ perceptions of how easy or how hard changing behavior is going to be
   (BU, 2019a)

HEALTH BELIEF MODEL (HBM)

The Health Belief Model was developed to understand the failure of people to adopt disease prevention strategies or undergo screening tests for the early detection of disease. Its foundation comes from psychological and behavioral theory that proposes two components of health-related behavior: 1) the desire to avoid illness or to get well if already sick and 2) the belief that a specific health behavior will prevent or cure illness. A patient’s course of action depends on their perceptions of the benefits and barriers related to health behavior (BU, 2019b).

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (SCT)

The foundation of Social Cognitive Theory is an emphasis on social influence and external and internal social reinforcement. SCT examines the unique ways in which individuals acquire and maintain behavior, taking into account the patient’s social environment and past experiences. Past experiences are believed to influence expectations, which shape whether a person will engage in a specific behavior and the reasons why a person engages in that behavior (BU, 2019c).

FACTORS AFFECTING CHANGE

There are three primary factors that affect change—motivation, knowledge/skills, and support—along with many potential barriers.

Motivation

Motivation is the willingness to do something or that which causes this willingness. Motivation is also described as enthusiasm for doing something (Cambridge Dictionary, 2019). Without motivation, health-related behaviors are unlikely to change. Therefore, it is important for healthcare professionals to help motivate their patients.

The following strategies have been found to be helpful when motivating patients:

1. Implement shared decision-making. This enables patients to be active participants in the development of their plan of care and to make informed choices that are respected by the healthcare team. The healthcare professional should not assume ownership of the patient’s health. Patients must assume ownership of their own health status.
2. Use motivational interviewing. Motivational interviewing is a conversation between patients and healthcare professionals to facilitate a patient’s motivation and commitment to change. Techniques such as using open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summarization are important parts of the motivational interviewing. (See also “Motivational Interviewing in the Healthcare Setting” later in this course.)
3. Use the “5 As” behavior change model, or assess, advise, agree (collaboratively), assist, and arrange follow-up care.
   (NIDDK, n.d.)

Knowledge and Skills

Another major factor in helping patients commit to a plan with proven results is the acquisition of the right knowledge and problem-solving skills (APA, 2019b). The healthcare professional is often the source for such knowledge, offering appropriate resources, including formal training, to enhance skills needed to accomplish and maintain behavioral change. Patients’ knowledge and skills should be matched to the behaviors to be changed (AOTA, n.d.).

Likewise, healthcare professionals themselves must acquire knowledge of the complex and dynamic interactions among individual patients, their environments, and the activities that are part of their daily lives.

Support

A support system is defined as having a network of people that can provide practical and/or emotional support. Multiple studies have shown that social support is a significant influence on a person’s ability to make a successful behavior change. Individuals who receive support for change can strengthen willpower and stay on track toward meeting their goals (Hood, 2020).

With the proper support system, patients can learn how to make long-term changes in lifestyle and behavior. For example, if a patient is adopting a new diet because of a recently diagnosed health problem, loved ones can offer appropriate foods and avoid preparing meals that are blatantly contraindicated.

As change agents, healthcare professionals realize that even when their patients are well along on the path toward their objective, they must also provide support to help to prevent relapse. Though patients are confident they can continue their identified change, they are still vulnerable. For this reason, caregivers must arrange and encourage follow-up measures to help people maintain the changes they have worked so hard to achieve, such as ongoing visits, membership in support groups, participation in managed care that emphasizes wellness, and mentoring.

Barriers to Change

The American Medical Association (AMA, 2020) has published “8 Reasons Patients Don’t Take Their Medications.” These reasons can also be applied to most noncompliance issues:

1. Fear. Patients may be afraid of potential side effects. Some patients may have experienced side effects with other treatments, witnessed side effects experienced by family or friends, or heard about potential side effects from other patients. Patients need objective, factual information about both risks and benefits.
2. Cost. Cost of treatments (e.g., medications, equipment) is often a major barrier to compliance. It is important that healthcare providers consider the cost of treatments and search for alternatives as necessary.
3. Misunderstanding. Patients may not know how to comply with treatment plans. How to use equipment, how to perform procedures, or when to take mediations may be confusing to patients and families. Therefore, patient/family education is critical. Patients should, for example, demonstrate how to use equipment or describe how to recognize medication side effects. Learning must be objectively measured.
4. Too many medications/treatments. Multiple treatments and/or medications can make for a complex schedule. Patients’ schedules should be as streamlined as possible.
5. Lack of symptoms. Patients may stop treatment (e.g., taking medications) when they start to feel better. They might assume that their problem is resolved and that there is no need to continue treatment. Or they might think that the treatment is not helping. Patients must be taught the importance of adhering to treatment.
6. Mistrust. Patients may not trust the healthcare system. Media coverage of negative aspects of healthcare and negative personal experiences or experiences of family and friends can contribute to a sense of mistrust. Ongoing negativity can cause patients to be suspicious of their own healthcare providers in particular and the healthcare system in general.
7. Worry. Patients may worry about the effectiveness of treatments, their costs, and fears of becoming dependent on medications. Healthcare providers must communicate objectively and patiently and evaluate patients’ understanding of their treatment regimens.
8. Depression. Patients who are depressed are less likely to adhere to their treatment regimens. Patients must be screened for depression, assessed for the need for intervention, and evaluated to determine the success of any intervention initiated to treat the depression.

COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES FOR FACILITATING CHANGE

To bring about behavioral change, healthcare professionals use a variety of communication techniques to support patients in making significant, health-promoting changes in their lives. Some specific techniques used for this purpose are described below.

Motivational Interviewing in the Healthcare Setting

All of the following supportive techniques help to bring about behavioral change and comprise what is called motivational interviewing (MI). Those who practice motivational interviewing:

• Show nonjudgmental empathy. Nonjudgmental empathy is the ability to encourage patients to fully express themselves, allowing patients to dominate the discussion. The empathic listener is attentive to what is being said, does not judge, does not interrupt, is sensitive to the emotion being expressed, and attempts to see the world through the patient’s eyes.
• Listen attentively and reflectively to patients to draw out rather than impose ideas. Attentive listening involves the use of positive body language such as facing the person and making frequent eye contact to be “seen” as actively listening. (It is also important to be sensitive to cultural differences in communication; for instance, in some cultures, direct eye contact may be offensive.) Reflective listening involves expressing back to the patient what has been heard using either the patient’s own words or rephrasing them.
• Develop and examine the discrepancy between the individual’s goals and current behavior. This involves helping the person focus on how current behavior differs from desired behavior by describing what the person’s values are and how current behavior is in conflict with those values.
• “Roll” with resistance by recognizing, acknowledging, and exploring the patient’s resistance rather than opposing it. Resistance is evident by such behaviors as rejecting an idea, disagreeing, excusing, minimizing, inattention, ignoring, or being defensive. The clinician avoids arguing for change and addresses the underlying concerns and fear of change.
• Empower the patient to make change and give responsibility to the patient to be active, rather than being a passive recipient of healthcare. Empowerment is a process that involves collaborative interaction, education, counseling, coaching, as well as self-education.
• Support self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the patient’s belief that change is possible and that they have the ability to make change. The clinician focuses on eliciting and supporting optimism by recognizing past successes and highlighting skills and strengths.
  (Hartney, 2021; Ingersoll, 2022; Psych Central, 2021)

Motivational interviewing is a particular type of conversation about change in which the patient rather than the healthcare professional brings forth the arguments for change. MI is also a collaborative process, a partnership that respects the patient’s autonomy, empowers, and gives responsibility for change to the patient. It requires the provider to recognize each patient’s worth and potential.

Using empathy, the healthcare professional strives to understand the patient’s perspective while affirming strengths and efforts. Through collaboration, the patient and provider negotiate a plan to help make change happen. Developing a partnership for change involves the willingness of the healthcare professional to suspend the reflex to give expert advice and to ask questions that allow for the exploration of the patient’s motivations.

The basic communication style of motivational interviewing, referred to by the mnemonic OARS, involves:

• Open questions
• Affirmations
• Reflective listening
• Summary

(Homeless Hub, 2019; Haque & D’Souza, 2019)

ASKING OPEN QUESTIONS

Open questions invite the patient to elaborate and cannot be answered with a yes or no:

• Open question: “What makes change hard for you?” (“I’m not sure, but …”)
• Closed question: “Change is hard for you, isn’t it?” (“Yes, it is.”)
• Open question: “Tell me how drinking fits into your life.” (“I like to relax after work with a few drinks and …”)
• Closed question: “Do you think you drink too much?” (“No, not really.”)
  (Hartney, 2021; Ingersoll, 2022; Psych Central, 2021)

USING AFFIRMATIONS

Affirmations are statements that recognize the patient’s strengths. They assist in building rapport and help the patient see themself more positively:

• “You are really taking this seriously.”
• “You’ve been successful in changing your smoking behaviors in the past.”
• “You showed a lot of courage in dealing with that problem.”
  (Homeless Hub, 2019)

REFLECTIVE LISTENING

Reflective listening is a crucial skill in which the listener paraphrases and restates both the feelings and the words of the speaker. It does not involve asking questions. Techniques of reflective listening include mirroring and paraphrasing.

Mirroring is repeating back key words or the last few words spoken while using the person’s tone of voice, pace of speaking, and body language:

• Patient (sarcastically): “I really am angry with everyone telling me to eat right and get more exercise!”
• Clinician: “You really seem angry to me!”

Paraphrasing is putting the patient’s message into your own words in an abbreviated form:

• Patient: “I wish I could wake up in the morning and feel ready to face the day.”
• Clinician: “You want to feel motivated to get up and do things.”

(Hartney, 2021; Ingersoll, 2022; Psych Central, 2021)

SUMMARIZING

Summarizing is a type of reflection in which the clinician recaps what has occurred in all or part of the interaction. Summaries communicate interest and understanding. They can also be used to shift attention and prepare the patient to move on.

• Clinician: “It sounds like you’re concerned about how much alcohol you are drinking because it has caused difficulties at home, and your wife wants you to stop. But you also said how important it is to have a few drinks when you get home from work so you can relax. That sounds like a difficult choice.”

(Hartney, 2021; Ingersoll, 2022; Psych Central, 2021)

Eliciting Change Talk

It is said that the more an individual talks about change, the more likely they are to change. Change talk consists of responses the clinician elicits from patients. Patients’ responses normally contain reasons for change that are important to them personally. Elements of change talk can be remembered using the mnemonic DARN-CAT.

DARN-CAT

Desire	“I want to stop overeating.”
Ability	“I know I can give up eating too many sugary foods.”
Reason	“It’s important to change because my blood sugars have been too high.”
Need	“I should really lose weight because of my high blood pressure and diabetes.”
Commitment	“I will make changes to my diet for my own health!”
Activation	“I am ready, prepared, and willing to change, starting now!”
Taking Steps	“My first action step will be going to the bookstore today to buy a weight-reduction cookbook for persons with diabetes.”

The clinician elicits change talk by:

• Asking evocative questions (what, when, where, how) and avoiding “why” questions
• Exploring decisional balance (pros and cons of change)
• Asking for elaboration or example (“Tell me more about …”)
• Looking back to the time before the onset of the behavior (“How was it different/better?”)
• Looking to what life would be like a few years from now (goals and values)
• Asking about extremes (“What are the worst things that may happen if change does not occur, and what are the best things if it does?”)
• Siding with the status quo (“Drinking is so important to you that you won’t stop no matter what it costs you.”)
  (Motivational Interviewing, n.d.)

It is important that clinicians elicit more information than they provide, ask rather than tell, and listen rather than advise. In order to provide information to the patient, the clinician should first find out what the patient already knows, and then ask permission to add more.

• “What do you know about how smoking affects your circulation?”
• “I have some information about how to begin an exercise program. Would you be interested in hearing about it?

CONCLUSION

Change is hard, but change is not impossible. This is a fact that healthcare providers should remember when feeling frustrated by a patient’s failure to make changes known to improve their health and well-being. Understanding the nature of change, the stages of change, and factors affecting change can assist the clinician to remain supportive rather than dismissive of someone’s ability or willingness to change.

Using a variety of supportive techniques, healthcare professionals can help guide their patients through the process of change by collaborating with them, negotiating action plans with them, empowering them, and supporting their self-efficacy. Making change possible can result in a well-deserved sense of satisfaction for both clinicians and patients.