HT3 Enable individuals to change their behaviour to improve their own health and wellbeing

Overview

This standard is about enabling individuals to change their behaviour so that they can improve their own health and wellbeing. It covers: - helping individuals to identify how their way of life and specific behaviours might affect their health and wellbeing - helping individuals to develop a personal action plan to make the changes they want to - helping individuals to change their behaviour and maintain the change. This standard relies on other earlier work with individuals so that they are ready, willing and motivated to change. Users of this standard will need to ensure that practice reflects up to date information and policies. Version No 1

Knowledge and Understanding

You will need to know and understand:

1. that health and illness is affected by people’s perceptions and behaviour and is different in different societies and groups
2. the kinds of misinformation that people may have about health and wellbeing and the affect of this on their behaviour
3. the things that affect health and wellbeing – individual determinants (eg behaviour and lifestyle) and the wider determinants on health (eg poverty, employment etc)
4. inequality, discrimination and abuse and their impact on health and wellbeing
5. how culture and social context affect how individuals think and feel about their behaviour and changing it
6. theories of changing behaviour and maintaining behaviour change, including how to promote personal control and responsibility for behaviour change
7. how measures of behaviour are used in monitoring behaviour change
8. how to assess readiness to change:
9. importance of change (benefits and disadvantages of changing)
10. confidence in ability to change
11. how to ensure that goals for behaviour change are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) and how to select a specific goal to work on at any one time
12. how to identify aspects (eg situations, consequences of behaviour, past experiences, prompts and rewards) that make desired behaviour more likely to happen
13. how to develop detailed personal action plans to achieve goals, including when, where, how and with whom
14. how to use a range of techniques to support individuals in achieving their personal action plan (eg the worker and others supporting behaviour change, demonstrations, modelling by others, small steps at a time, encouragement and praise and stress management)
15. how to help individuals record their behaviour change and the achievement of their action plan
16. how to help individuals to maintain their behaviour change (eg avoiding difficult situations, having a realistic expectation of rate of progress, highlighting and rewarding progress, learning from lack of progress or setbacks, reviewing records and amending action plans, building routines, setting tasks, reducing frequency of contact as progress is made)
17. how to collect outcome data for evaluation purposes
18. the legislation that relates to own work and how it affects own work
19. the policies and procedures of the employing organisation (including those relating to confidentiality, health and safety, equality and diversity)
20. the local resources – facilities and services – that can support individuals’ behaviour change and how individuals can access them
21. the data collection, storage and retrieval systems in own organisation
22. the principles of effective communication with:
23. communities
24. people in own and other agencies
25. significant others
26. own role and responsibilities and from whom assistance and advice should be sought if necessary
27. the principles of equality, diversity and anti-discriminatory practice and how to apply these in own work
28. how to develop your own competence and the benefits of doing this

Performance Criteria

You must be able to do the following:

1. communicate in a manner that:
1. is appropriate to the individuals
2. encourages an open exchange of views and information
3. minimises any constraints to communication whilst maintaining confidentiality
4. is free from discrimination and oppression
5. respects people as individuals
2. encourage individuals to:
1. assess how their behaviour is affecting their health and wellbeing
2. identify the changes that might benefit their health and wellbeing
3. identify their motivation to change their behaviour
4. identify the situations that will help them change
5. identify barriers to change and ways of managing them
3. assist individuals to:
1. identify specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely goals for changing their behaviour
2. identify one easily-achievable goal to start working on
3. identify any skills that need to be learnt to achieve this goal
4. develop a personal action plan that will help them achieve their goals
5. identify who and what will help them achieve their plan
6. make sure they get the support they need in achieving their plan
7. record their progress in achieving their plan
8. identify when and how their plan will be reviewed
4. give individuals the specific support they need to achieve their plan by:
1. taking appropriate actions to help them achieve their goals
2. providing them with clear and relevant information on other services
3. reviewing their progress in achieving their goals
4. providing feedback, support and encouragement
5. helping them recognise and value their achievements
6. developing their confidence in bringing about change and maintaining change
5. take the necessary actions to link the individual in with other workers and agencies when they have agreed you can do this
6. help individuals to:
1. evaluate the changes they have made to their behaviour and their effects on their health and wellbeing
2. identify their broader learning and development
3. decide how they will take their learning forward
4. feedback to you on yours and others’ work
5. make suggestions as to how services can be improved in the future
7. keep accurate and complete records of your work with individuals as required by your agency
8. tell your manager about:
1. any problems that individuals have experienced with different services
2. any concerns you have about the individual
3. work within your own role and competence

Additional Information

This National Occupational Standard was developed by Skills for Health. This standard links with the following dimension within the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (October 2004): Dimension: HWB1 Promotion of health and wellbeing and prevention of adverse affects on health and wellbeing