Supporting patients to make lifestyle behaviour changes
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Supporting patients to make lifestyle behaviour changes

Susan Rosemary Thompson Assistant professor in adult nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Derby Education Centre, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, England

Why you should read this article
  • To enhance your knowledge of the benefits of health promotion and preventing ill health

  • To understand patients’ decision-making processes around lifestyle behaviour change

  • To be aware of the techniques that can be used to support patients to make lifestyle behaviour changes

The lifestyle choices that people make in relation to areas such as alcohol consumption, diet and smoking have the potential to seriously affect their health, with long-term conditions such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes mellitus potentially resulting in a suboptimal quality of life for individuals and incurring significant costs in terms of healthcare resources. Health promotion and preventing ill health are priorities for UK healthcare services. All nurses have a duty to continuously update their knowledge and expertise to support patients undertaking lifestyle behaviour change. This article considers practical methods that nurses can use to undertake this essential role, as well as discussing public health policy in this area.

Nursing Standard. 34, 12, 59-65. doi: 10.7748/ns.2019.e11338

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

susan.thompson@nottingham.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Thompson SR (2019) Supporting patients to make lifestyle behaviour changes. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2019.e11338

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