Health Behavior Change: A Guide for Practitioners [Paperback]

Stephen Rollnick (Author), Pip Mason (Author), Chris Butler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0443058504 | ISBN-13: 978-0443058509 | Publication Date: June 15, 1999 | Edition: 1

This book is the first in its field to offer practitioners a patient-centered method for changing a patient's health behavior. Using brief, structured consultations with the client, the practitioner encourages the patient to take charge of decision-making concerning his/her health. The text clearly outlines the fundamental principles behind the method while applying it to practice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is engaging and practical, written by professionals who have theoretical understanding of behavior change and more importantly, the wisdom that comes from years of facilitating positive behavior change in their patients. This book should be required reading for every health care professional ." Mary Marden Velasquez Ph.D, University of Houston
something you can pick up and then use the next day? This is it! A fine little book, this is a must read for people working in the health care professions ." David B Rosengren, Ph.D, University of Washington
invaluable resource for both the most seasoned primary health care professionals as well as students of clinical health psychology, medical social work, nurse education, and general medicine. Three cheers to Drs. Rollnick, Mason, and Butler!!" Gary Rose, Ph.D, Harvard School of Medicine
outstandingly helpful and practical book for health professionals ." William R Miller, Ph.D, University of New Mexico
absorbing book, written by a clinical psychologist, a nurse and a GP, challenges the ways in which we are taught to advise patients on health promotion matters and shows the doctor how such advice could be delivered more effectively." Dr Jeremy M Sager, familymedicine.co.uk, May 1999
nuts and bolts of how to help patients change their behaviour from the experts an invaluable guide for counsellors who are increasingly asked to work with patients with chronic medical conditions." Dr Graham Curtis Jenkins, Director, Counselling in Primary Care Trust, January 2001
thoughtful, practical guide that deserves to be read by a whole host of health practitioners. I am recommending it to my colleagues and students interested in health behaviour change as required reading." Carlo C Diclemente, Tobacco Control, vol 9, January 2000
most exciting contribution is that it gives readers specific guidelines on how to apply theories to everyday practice. It is hard to imagine a reader who would come away from this book without concrete ideas on how to improve encounters with clients." Betsy D Foy and Scott T Walters, Health Promotion Practice, vol 2,, October 2001

About the Author

By Stephen Rollnick, BSocSci(Hons), MSc, DipClinPsych, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer, Department of General Practice, University of Wales, College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK; Pip Mason, RGN, BSc(Econ), MSocSc, Nurse and Training Consultant, Aquarius, Birmingham, UK;

Christopher Butler, BA, MBChB, DCH, MRCGP, General Practitioner and Lecturer, Department of General Practice, University of Wales, College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK

Product Details

• Paperback: 225 pages
• Publisher: Churchill Livingstone; 1 edition (June 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0443058504
• ISBN-13: 978-0443058509
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Medical Books > Nursing > Patient Education

More About the Author

Stephen Rollnick, BSocSci(Hons), MSc, DipClinPsych, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer, Department of General Practice, University of Wales, College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent or Flawed? - Depends on your perspective, April 2, 2006

By 

Peter A. Kindle (Kansas City, Missouri) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Health Behavior Change: A Guide for Practitioners (Paperback)

It's a bit unusual for me to agree with customer reviews that both praise and criticize a book, but in this case I do. On the one hand, Rollnick et al, have done an amazing job of applying motivational interviewing and stages of change theory to the short interchanges common with patients in a medical setting. For those readers already well-versed in stages of change, this is an excellent and thought-provoking approach. I believe many "counselors" of various stripes would benefit from the applications advocated in this book.

On the other hand, I found the theoretical foundation wholly inadequate. While I appreciated the attempts of the authors to carefully distinguish between evidence-based substantiation of their guidelines and the weaker suggestions based on clinical practice, I felt that there was a preponderance of the latter.

I was also overwhelmed by the repetition included in the three final "application" chapters. Surely there is a better way to present this material! Frankly, the final chapters are so tedious to read that I suspect the average medical professional tends to conclude this volume with a less-than-enthusiastic feeling regarding the guidance.

My advice is to read through chapter 5, at the most, and to consult chapters 6-8 only after encountering specific problems in applying the techniques provided.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Talking to Patients About Behavior Change, October 19, 2000

By 

William R. Miller (The University of New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Health Behavior Change: A Guide for Practitioners (Paperback)

Many of the chronic illnesses and other problems that cause people to seek health care are closely linked to behavioral patterns related to issues such as diet, exercise, smoking, drinking, and stress. Treatment is often addressed to acute care without helping patients examine and change the underlying behaviors. There are good reasons why this is so. Managed care increasingly limits the amount of time that medical professionals can spend with patients. Many doctors, nurses, and other health professionals feel unprepared or frustrated about changing patient behavior patterns. Indeed, medical training usually provides little guidance in how to help patients change health behaviors.

In this clearly written and highly practical little book, Rollnick and his colleagues offer a range of effective methods that can be used within the context and time constraints of primary or specialist care. The goal is not to turn doctors and nurses into counselors or psychotherapists. Rather, they argue persuasively that there is much that can be done within medical practice to help patients change the behavior patterns that bring them back again and again to the doctor's office. The methods are well-described, and derived from research on effective brief interventions for behavior change.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and thought provoking, December 22, 2000

By 

Janet M Hanson (Salina, KS USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Health Behavior Change: A Guide for Practitioners (Paperback)

I am a nurse who has worked in the areas of AIDS Counseling and testing, Family Planning and now drug abuse prevention in a school. Sometimes I am called upon to talk to students and "get them worried" about their drug and alcohol use. Much of what I read felt too coercive with students and, in practice, evoked much resistance. This book contains readily applicable techniques for helping your hear your clients concerns better so that you do understand their behavior in the context of their real lives and allows you to help move them toward concern and possibly behavior change. This should be a book included in ALL nursing curricula because of it's readily hands-on use capacity. Surely, reading and applying the book has been a processs (and much like behavior change itself) not a quick fix application. Great stuff.