A Web-Based Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum: Facilitating Education About Lifestyle Medicine, Behavioral Change, and Health Care Outcomes

Abstract

BackgroundLifestyle medicine is the science and application of healthy lifestyles as interventions for the prevention and treatment of disease, and has gained significant momentum as a specialty in recent years. College is a critical time for maintenance and acquisition of healthy habits. Longer-term, more intensive web-based and in-person lifestyle medicine interventions can have a positive effect. Students who are exposed to components of lifestyle medicine in their education have improvements in their health behaviors. A semester-long undergraduate course focused on lifestyle medicine can be a useful intervention to help adopt and sustain healthy habits.ObjectiveTo describe a novel, evidence based curriculum for a course teaching the concepts of Lifestyle Medicine based on a web-based course offered at the Harvard Extension School.MethodsThe course was delivered in a web-based format. The Lifestyle Medicine course used evidence based principles to guide students toward a “coach approach” to behavior change, increasing their self-efficacy regarding various lifestyle-related preventive behaviors. Students are made to understand the cultural trends and national guidelines that have shaped lifestyle medicine recommendations relating to behaviors. They are encouraged to engage in behavior change. Course topics include physical activity, nutrition, addiction, sleep, stress, and lifestyle coaching and counseling. The course addressed all of the American College of Preventive Medicine/American College of Lifestyle Medicine competencies save for the competency of office systems and technologies to support lifestyle medicine counseling.ResultsThe course was well-received, earning a ranking of 4.9/5 at the school.ConclusionsA novel, semester-long course on Lifestyle Medicine at the Harvard Extension School is described. Student evaluations suggest the course was well-received. Further research is needed to evaluate whether such a course empowers students to adopt behavior changes.

Effects of the e-Motivate4Change Program on Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adults Using Health Apps and Wearable Devices: Quasi-Experimental Study

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the incidence rate of chronic disease is not only related to social and economic factors but also to individuals’ eating habits and physical activities such as drinking and smoking [ 9 ]. Sedentary lifestyle, high-calorie diet, sweetened drinks, low economic status, and saturated fats are key risk factors that increase the risk of obesity; however, regular physical activity is known to lower individuals’ risk [ 10 , 11 ]. People who are habitually active, less sedentary, and have better cardio-pulmonary functions are less obese and thus have lower incidence rates of MetS [ 12 ].…”

“…Thus, appropriate prevention and intervention is needed in all related fields [ 14 ]. One can significantly lower the risk of and prevent MetS by controlling diet habits, physical activity, smoking, drinking, and stress levels [ 10 , 15 , 16 ]. In particular, men aged 30 to 39 years and women aged 20 to 29 years have worse health activity compared to other age categories, and thus require more active and focused health management to improve their health habits and prevent chronic diseases [ 17 ].…”

The new approache for chronic diseases: Lifestyle medicine

“…59 Frates ve ark. 60 hazırladığı web tabanlı YTT dönemlik dersi, öğrencilerin fiziksel aktivite, beslenme, uyku, stres konularında kanıta dayalı rehberleri kullanarak yaşam tarzı koçluk ve danışmanlığı yapabilmelerini hedeflemiştir. Çoğunluğunu lisans ve yüksek lisans öğrencilerinin oluşturduğu farklı disiplinlerden katılımcılar tarafından üç yılda dersin kabul edilebilirlik ve seçim puan ortalamaları 4,9 (max:5) olarak belirlenmiştir.…”

“…Çoğunluğunu lisans ve yüksek lisans öğrencilerinin oluşturduğu farklı disiplinlerden katılımcılar tarafından üç yılda dersin kabul edilebilirlik ve seçim puan ortalamaları 4,9 (max:5) olarak belirlenmiştir. 60 Eğitim çalışmaları lisans, lisansüstü ve tıpta uzmanlık öğrencileri gibi farklı seviyelerden öğrenciler ile yapılmış bunun yanı sıra interdisipliner sağlık ekibine yönelik hazırlanan kurs program değerlendirme çalışmaları da mevcuttur. Dacey ve ark.…”

“…47,48 58 Literatürde yapılan müfredat programı geliştirme ve eğitim çalışmalarının katılımcıların yaşam tarzına ilişkin bilgi, tutum, mesleki rol olarak benimseme ve özyeterliklerini olumlu etkilediğini, bu programların kabul edilebilirlik ve seçim puan ortalamalarının oldukça yüksek olduğunu gösteren çok sayıda çalışma bulunmaktadır. [59][60][61][62][63] Polak ve ark. 59 bir öğrencinin deneyimi üzerine beslenme, egzersiz, sigara bırakma ve davranış değişikliği içeren tıp fakültesinde sağlık koçluğu temelli 58 saatlik YTT müfredatı başlatmışlardır.…”