In this issue … New collaborations, publications, projects; some great new research on the benefits of self-compassion for sustaining exercise; exciting real-world applications of my work in Canada; and a great read.
What I’ve Been Up To
New eLearning Program: Much to report! Recently, I finished piloting my new interactive, eLearning corporate well-being program, Joyful Mind, Happy Body: Rewriting Your Self-Care Story®, within a leading national healthcare system. I’ve been actively studying training and eLearning methods for the last two years because of my desire to learn how to leverage these specific (and different) methodologies in creating compelling science-based, sustainable-behavior-change eLearning programs for organizations and professionals.
My goal for Joyful Mind, Happy Body is to teach the key science for creating sustainable behavior change in easy-to-understand and deeply engaging story-based ways. This program was designed to help Wellness Champions learn how to adopt self-care behaviors for themselves in sustainable ways (including learning the science behind these strategies) and how they can use this approach in their work helping their colleagues, patients, family and community. Developing and delivering the program was really fun and successful. The process inspired me to invent new, engaging science-based characters and visual concepts to align with and concurrently support individual-level behavior change and organizational well-being policies. Participant feedback was helpful and got me interested in identifying optimal session durations (e.g., 15 mins vs. 30 mins) and how to adapt this interactive webinar-based program into a micro-learning journey. Integrating cutting-edge science related to creating sustainable behavior change with the most potent learning methodologies in artisanal ways has become one of my new passions.
Featured Publication: My colleagues and I published a study in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine about our piloting of a new lifestyle-change coaching protocol delivered in a family medicine clinic. For more information on this work see “Delivery of Health Coaching by Medical Assistants in Primary Care.”
Featured Research: I’ve also embarked on new research collaborations that aim to investigate two intriguing areas:
- Finding more effective ways to communicate persuasively about physical activity across sectors in order to boost high-quality, stable motivation and the consistent decisions necessary for behavioral sustainability.
- Understanding how social-media based exercise groups cultivate connection and encourage ongoing exercise behavior.
I hope to report more on these topics and my amazing new collaborators as we learn more and publish our results. Stay tuned!
Self-Compassion and Behavior Change
In my work with consumers, professionals, and organizations, I always stress the importance of individuals being kind to themselves – using self-compassion – when faced with setbacks and challenges in self-care. So I was excited to read a recent online, cross-sectional study by Drs. Semenchuk, Strachan, and Fortier in Canada (printed in The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology) that aligns with what I’ve seen in my own clients since the mid-1990s: becoming self-compassionate in the face of disappointments facilitates re-engaging with the behavior and ongoing self-regulation.
As the authors state, “The results of this study indicate that self-compassion may assist with self-regulating exercise after an exercise setback. Specifically, self-compassion may provide a strategy to deal with negative emotions, decrease rumination, and extrinsic regulation for an exercise goal reengage in an exercise goal after an exercise setback.”
In everyday terms, this means that when you miss a planned workout, or fail to meet your hoped-for exercise goals, self-compassion can stop you from blaming yourself or even giving up on exercise altogether. Simply being kind to yourself can help you course correct and formulate a strategy for dealing with the next (inevitable!) setback. These ideas can also be easily integrated for use in apps, behavior change counseling protocols, and corporate wellness messaging.
When we unconditionally support ourselves to move forward through the ups and downs of our ongoing self-care journey, we are much more likely stick with it. You can see more details of this hot-off-the-press study here.
Putting No Sweat Principles in Medical Fitness
What would happen if you opened a fitness clinic and applied the science-based principles from my book No Sweat?
Sara Hodson told me that she did just that in her medical fitness clinic in Vancouver, Canada, working with supervised exercise and healthy lifestyle coaching for people with chronic diseases as well as prevention. I was excited to learn more about her systematic approach to integrating these principles across the patient experience and education, but her update on patient behavior and business growth over past year blew me away. Read the whole story here. (And, if you have been applying these ideas in your organization or work, please email me, I’d love to learn more about what you are finding.)
My Bookshelf
I highly recommend Julie Dirksen‘s Design for How People Learn. I have learned so much from this book! She is truly an expert in this field and her work on designing systems for changing behavior is very relevant and timely.
Please spread the word! If you know anyone else who might enjoy learning more about the science and methods that underlie creating lasting motivation and sustainable behavior change in the health, well-being, and fitness arenas, forward them this newsletter or let them know where to find me in the Twitterverse, @MichelleSegar.
Feel free to share this post with others who share your interest in the science-based how-to’s of creating lasting changes that can survive in the real world.
Copyright © Segar, Michelle.