title: Using action plans to help primary care patients adopt healthy behaviors: a descriptive study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An action plan is an agreement between clinician and patient that the patient will make a specific behavior change. The goals of this study are to: determine whether it is feasible for patients to make action plans in the primary care visit; determine whether patients report carrying out their action plans; and describe the action plans patients choose.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-three clinicians in 8 primary care sites were recruited to hold action-plan discussions with patients. Research assistants contacted patients by telephone 3 weeks later to assess whether patients had conducted their action plans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-three percent of enrolled patients (228) made an action plan during a primary care visit. Of the 79% who recalled making the action plan when interviewed by telephone 3 weeks later, 56% recalled the details of their action plan, and an additional 33% recalled the general nature of the action plan. At least 53% of patients making an action plan reported making a behavior change consistent with that action plan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most patients reported making a behavior change based on an action plan, suggesting that action plans may be a useful strategy to encourage behavior change for patients seen in primary care.
authors: Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, USA.
authors: Margaret
authors: M
authors: Handley
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: MacGregor
authors: Dean
authors: D
authors: Schillinger
authors: Claire
authors: C
authors: Sharifi
authors: Sharon
authors: S
authors: Wong
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Bodenheimer