Health and Wellness Coaching Improves Weight and Nutrition Behaviors

Abstract

Most Americans have an eating pattern inconsistent with the Dietary Guidelines, putting them at risk for obesity and chronic disease. Health and wellness coaching (HWC) for lifestyle behavior change is emerging as a potentially effective tool to prevent and treat chronic disease. A systematic literature review identified 11 randomized controlled trials studying the use of HWC for improving nutrition-related biomarkers and eating behaviors. These trials demonstrate efficacy of HWC across diverse populations and treatment modalities. Almost all (82%) of the trials showed an improvement in at least one outcome. The most commonly studied outcomes were weight, blood pressure, and fruit, vegetable, and fat intake. There are several gaps in the research. The assessment of nutrition-related behaviors can be expanded to include assessment of diet quality and eating patterns associated with chronic disease prevention. Research is needed to evaluate HWC for nutrition-related biomarkers and behaviors in understudied populations with known health disparities. In addition, the health coaching dosage for long-term maintenance of changed outcomes and behaviors is inconsistent or unknown. These gaps will be important to address to determine policies and best practices for future application of HWC.

Pilot Feasibility Study of Incorporating Whole Person Care Health Coaching Into an Employee Wellness Program

“…The results were sustained 12 weeks after the end of the intervention ( 11 ). In a systematic review of health coaching studies with randomized clinical trial design, 11 articles were identified, and the review concluded that health coaching is effective in lowering weight and increasing healthy food consumption, even among diverse populations ( 12 ). Researchers, however, do suggest there remains a gap in the literature evaluating the use of health and wellness coaching among patients who have type 2 diabetes or cancer, are at a high risk for either disease, or have other chronic diseases ( 10 , 12 ).…”

Conscious Self-Regulation, Level of Anxiety in Eating Disorders: A Structural Model

“…Research on eating disorders focuses on the role of mental disorders (Chami et al, 2020;Dawson et al, 2018;Palavras et al, 2020;Weiss et al, 2019) and sociocultural factors (Ordaz et al, 2018;Rodgers et al, 2018;2019Yamamiya et al, 2016). Currently, there are more and more studies that examine various types of mental self-regulation among the significant factors of nutritional behavior (Annesi et al, 2016;Dohle et al, 2018;Eschenbeck et al, 2016;Kennel, 2018;Menzie et al, 2017).…”

Feasibility study of a health coaching intervention to improve contraceptive continuation in adolescent and young adult women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“…Health coaching has been shown to improve outcomes in adults with a range of conditions, including diabetes, obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease 29,31–33 . Although most health coaching programs target adults, this approach has been successfully used to improve pediatric outcomes 34–37 .…”