2/29/2024 0 Comments Define synergy in group![]() ![]() Multiple vendors of coaching services promise a unique “magic” ingredient. Multiple training programs have tried to claim that their way is the best way. Multiple disciplines have tried to claim health and wellness coaching as their own. The playing field is fraught with the complexities of turf struggles, economics, and politics. 10, 11 With so many disciplines involved, how can we even be talking about the same concept and processes? Moreover, is the level of collaboration needed to synergize across the disciplines truly possible? Among other frameworks, health and wellness coaching has been variously defined in the context of health education, 5 nursing, 6, 7 medicine, 8 life coaching, 9 and behavioral health and psychology. 2 - 4 To date, the term health coaching describes widely varied interventions across multiple disciplines and settings. Research evaluating health and wellness coaching has been fraught with methodological concerns. 1 Despite the rapidly emerging data, however, the literature is difficult to interpret. The amount of relevant peer-reviewed medical literature being published on health and wellness coaching is impressive. But from my perspective as a coach, how we got here is much less important than how we get out of here. ![]() But did we get here through a failure of personal responsibility? A failure of family units to support appropriate health behaviors? A failure of educational systems to teach healthy behaviors? A failure of medicine to cultivate health behaviors in patients? A failure of municipalities from an urban planning perspective? A failure of the social sciences to apply the latest in adult learning theory, psychology, and behavioral economics to health behaviors? A failure of government to incentivize or reinforce health behaviors? A failure of industry to prioritize health over capital? A failure of society to integrate all of the above? Or is this just the perfect time to synergize all that we know from numerous disciplines to conquer the challenge of unhealthy behavior that creates chronic disease? From my perspective as a health psychologist, understanding the origins of the problems will help us draft the solution. We all know the threats associated with the staggering epidemic of chronic disease and associated unhealthy lifestyles. The rise of health and wellness coaching holds significant promise for facilitating sustainable behavior change to help legions of individuals prevent and manage chronic disease.
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