Behaviour change counselling--how do I know if I am doing it well? The development of the Behaviour Change Counselling Scale (BCCS).
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to operationalize behaviour change counselling skills (motivation enhancement, behaviour modification, emotion management) that facilitate self-management support activities and evaluate the psychometric properties of an expert rater scale, the Behaviour Change Counselling Scale (BCCS).


METHODS
Twenty-one healthcare providers with varying levels of behaviour change counselling training interviewed a simulated patient. Videotapes were independently rated by 3 experts on 2 occasions over 6 months. Data on item/subscale characteristics, interrater and test-retest reliability, preliminary data on construct reliability, were reported.


RESULTS
All items of the BCCS performed well with the exception of 3 that were dropped due to infrequent endorsement. Most subscales showed strong psychometric properties. Interrater and test-retest reliability coefficients were uniformly high. Competency scores improved significantly from pre- to posttraining.


CONCLUSIONS
Behaviour change counselling skills to guide lifestyle interventions can be operationalized and assessed in a reliable and valid manner.


CONCLUSIONS
The BCCS can be used to guide clinical training in lifestyle counselling by operationalizing the component skills and providing feedback on skill achieved. Further research is needed to establish cut scores for competency and scale construct and criterion validity.
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Electronic address: tvallis@dal.ca.
Michael
M
Vallis
D001521:Behavior Therapy; D037001:Directive Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012648:Self Care
behaviour change counselling; behaviour modification; conception d’échelles; counselling en changement de comportement; emotion management; fiabilité; modification de comportement; motivation; prise en charge des émotions; reliability; scale development; self-management support; soutien à la prise en charge autonome