title: Using health psychology to help patients: promoting healthy choices.
abstract: This article describes behaviour change techniques that nurses can use to help individual patients to make and stick to healthy choices. These include helping patients to set goals that are specific, measureable, achievable, relevant and timely (SMART), promoting self-monitoring and providing feedback and motivational interviewing. The process for delivering these techniques is described and the evidence for them discussed. Simply providing brief advice and follow up can lead to behaviour change, even in people who have not expressed a desire to change. The techniques are designed to be brief and feasible to use in routine practice. Using them can help nurses to apply the NHS policy of Making Every Contact Count so that their patients achieve long-term benefit.
authors.affiliation: Professor in Health and Wellbeing, College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barley
authors.affiliation: Principal Health Psychologist, Southwark Talking Therapies Service, London.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lawson
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy; D001524:Behavioral Medicine; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005246:Feedback; D006040:Goals; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D062405:Motivational Interviewing / Q000379:methods*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009729:Nursing; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Health behaviour; Health promotion; Motivational interviewing; Quality of life