Motivation and Choice

My apologies for being away. I have been off enjoying the finer things in life- but not to worry I am back!

Today I would like to share with you a new program idea.

I met with a friend and colleague last week. We both had the same supervisor at school and both survived doing research in exercise physiology. Fun times!

My friend now works in a primary care network (PCN), working directly with patients who are referred to him by physicians.

As with all of our visits, the first hour is shop talk. He shared with me some new exciting things the PCN is doing, especially with the programs they are planning to offer. The program they want to implement, is to offer their patients a choice. Yes a choice! Let me explain.

They are planning for this program to be targeting patients who have weight management issues and/or type 2 diabetes. The patients who enter this program will go through introductory sessions on chronic disease management, with a focus on tools to help them with behaviour change (goal-setting, self-monitoring, etc). Once the patient completes these sessions they are given the option to have further assistance in either nutrition or physical activity. Of course, the patients can also get assistance in the other area they may not have initially chosen.

I think this is a great idea, which could be quite successful.

Motivation is a key aspect of changing behaviour. Providing patients a sense of autonomy (ie, a choice, sense that they have control) can be very helpful to maintain motivation.

I am very eager to hear about their program as it develops. I will also be curious to learn if the adherence to this program is better and of course the long term outcomes of their patients.

So, what do you think? Is offering choice useful? Have you seen programs do something similar? How can we give them a sense of autonomy and a sense of control to the people we work with?