Efficacy of Health Coaching
Several studies have shown health coaching to be effective in improving various aspects of health. One study on type 2 diabetes concludes that after 6 months, individuals who were coached showed improvement in medication adherence. Coaching had a positive effect on patient’s knowledge, skill, self-efficacy and behavior change while an non-coached control group did not show any improvement. Additionally, coached participants with a hemoglobin A1C over 7% showed significant improvement in A1C.
A study on coronary heart disease indicated that patients in a coaching program achieved a significantly greater change in total cholesterol of 14 mg/dl than the non-coached patients, with a considerable reduction in LDL-C. Those involved in the coaching program showed improvements in secondary outcomes such as weight loss, increased exercise, improved quality of life, less anxiety, and improvement in overall health and mood.
Another study shows that telephonic coaching is an effective program for assisting individuals with self-efficacy and weight loss. Confidence to lose weight increased from a baseline of 60% to 3 months 71%, 6 months 76% and 12 months 79%. The average BMI significantly decreased during this interactive coaching study. Average Baseline was 32.1%, and then documented at 3 months (31.4%), 6 months (31.0%), 12 months (30.6%).
A study on tobacco cessation concluded that after 12 months, the coached participants had a 32% quit rate compared to 18% for nonparticipants. Those that participated in the program, who acknowledged that they were ready for change, had the highest rate of quitting at 44%. Additionally, 11% of participants who did not quit reported reduction in tobacco use. This is considered a positive outcome because other studies have shown that when individuals reduce their tobacco use they find increase motivation to quit in the future.
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