Current challenges of behavior change talk for medical professionals and trainees.
OBJECTIVE
To explore medical professionals' and trainees' experiences and views of behavior change talk in various health care settings to develop current understanding of the challenges that underlie this phenomenon.


METHODS
Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical professionals and trainees (n=29). Grounded theory principles informed sampling, data collection and analysis. To achieve maximum variance, participants with different levels of experience were purposively sampled from a range of primary and secondary care settings. Analysis was iterative, involving a constant comparative approach allowing emergent ideas to be tested in subsequent interviews until thematic saturation was reached.


RESULTS
Three emergent themes described reasons for not engaging in behavior change talk with patients: (1) 'personal challenges'; (2) 'somebody else's responsibility' and (3) 'prioritizing the doctor-patient relationship'.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite increasingly being recognized as a core aspect of medical practice and education, medical professionals and trainees remain unprepared to discuss health-related behavior change with patients and unclear of their roles within contemporary health care.


CONCLUSIONS
Formal training in theory-based behavior change techniques is likely to help empower doctors and mitigate many of the barriers found, particularly in relation to socially and emotionally uncomfortable topics that are perceived to threaten the doctor-patient relationship.
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Anna.Chisholm@manchester.ac.uk
Anna
A
Chisholm
Jo
J
Hart
Vanessa
V
Lam
Sarah
S
Peters
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000193:education; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010465:Perception; D024382:Professional Role / Q000523:psychology*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D006113:United Kingdom