Undergraduate
Degrees
Bachelor of Science
Health Coaching
An Empowering Alliance
We have more healthcare information,
high-tech medical advances and wellness
strategies than ever before, yet we’re eating
worse, exercising less and chronic disease is
on the rise. Treatments have become more
complex and physicians have less time to
educate patients about them.
Within this challenging environment the growing
field of professional health coaching is moving
forward to help people do the following:
Navigate an increasingly complex health
care system
Cope effectively with chronic conditions
and minimize complications
Make sound health care decisions in the
face of multiple options
Create lasting lifestyle changes to improve
and enhance total well being
Hospitals, insurers and employers are turning
to health coaches to create better health outcomes and control costs. Recently advertised
positions include a wellness consultant for
Humana Inc., a health coach for Johns Hopkins
Healthcare LLC, and lifestyle health coaches
for WellCorp.
Unlike health educators who typically provide
information for patients to use on their own,
health coaching uses a more interactive consultation model with the coach and patient
working together.
What Does a Health Coach Do?
Health coaches help people set and meet health goals,
overcome health-related obstacles and create support
systems. Although they do not diagnose or treat conditions, they proactively monitor progress and hold the
patient accountable to agreed-upon goals.
Coaches can also help people interact most effectively with
a multi-disciplinary team of clinical specialists, identify
providers with appropriate expertise, communicate with
clinicians, and advocate on the patient’s behalf.
A health coach walks the road with patients, helping them
actually apply information to their unique situation. They
help patients gain a deeper understanding of their
conditions and master the skills needed to persist
and succeed with a prescribed health care regimen.
Health coaches are also particularly helpful in guiding
people through information overload. The internet is a
great resource for researching health-related questions
but it can also present patients with more data and
highly conflicted data that is difficult to turn into useful
insights. Health coaches can guide people toward trusted
resources and help them evaluate a broad range of
care options.
Better Results
Showing people how to do something and leading them
through it seems to be much more effective than just
telling them to do something.
There is growing research showing better outcomes with
the use of health coaches rather than traditional patient
education. The American Cancer Society, for example,
has found telephone coaching doubles a smoker’s
chances of successfully quitting.
“In a society where poor nutrition,
inadequate weight and stress
management, and lack of physical
activity take an enormous toll,
coaching skills have never
been needed more.”
The American College of Sport Medicine
(ACSM)
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services completed a
study in 2008 with high-risk chronic disease patients
assigned to health coaches. Readmission rates of patients
who worked with health coaches were lower than among
those who didn’t.